Three weeks into the province's new carbon levy program, municipalities in the district are still trying to gauge the impacts on their respective operations, say officials.
The Gazette contacted municipal officials at Mountain View County, Didsbury, Carstairs and Cremona and asked about the effects of the levy.
The tax applies to such things as gasoline and diesel as well as natural gas used for heating.
Rob Beaupertuis, director of corporate services with Mountain View County, says the estimated direct cost of the carbon levy on county operations in 2017 is $56,000.
However, that does not include indirect costs, such as electricity or contractor fuel costs, he said.
"When an electricity company burns carbon to generate electricity, the company is going to bury that cost in the price but we will never know how much," said Beaupertuis.
"We use a lot of contractors for re-gravelling so we don't know what the impact directly is going to be passed on to us.
"I think the impact outside our direct activity costs may be greater than this amount ($56,000)."
In Carstairs, CAO Carl McDonnell said the carbon tax will likely have an impact on town operations and expenses, although officials don't yet know the full extent.
"It's tough to tell," said McDonnell. "If we get a warm spring and the ice plant is running then our core costs are higher already. It's hard to say what our typical December, January, February, March and April bills will be. It'll definitely have an effect on operating the facility."
McDonnell said the lights in the arena have been switched to LED, which results in some cost saving.
"We have street lighting costs of about $80,000 a year," he said. "So we'll see a bump there as well. We do have an agreement with Fortis to change out to LED lights. So hopefully that will save us in the long run."
McDonnell said the bigger effect from the carbon tax will be on the 2018 budget.
"We want to make sure we're setting our rates properly right now so we don't get a big spike in 2018," he said.
In Didsbury, Nita Bartholow, chief financial officer, said council passed the 2017 budget with the carbon tax in mind.
"We do not anticipate any reduction of service nor an increase in taxes as a result of the implementation of the carbon tax," said Bartholow.
Bartholow said the approximate cost for the carbon tax to the Town of Didsbury in 2017 would be $7,000 in electricity, $18,000 in natural gas and $3,000 in fuel.
Luana Smith, CAO of Cremona, said the cost of maintenance for the village will certainly be impacted by the carbon tax.
"We are budgeting for higher fuel costs for vehicles and equipment as well as for heating the village facilities," said Smith.
For his part, Mountain View County reeve Bruce Beattie says it is still early days when it comes to gauging the impact of the carbon tax.
"We've done some early calculations on the potential impacts, but we haven't seen the impact yet for sure," said Beattie.
"When I look at the price at the pumps, the price went up 10 cents before the carbon tax showed up, and now it's gone down by five cents, so what's the carbon tax? I don't know."
Determining the exact impact may actually prove difficult down the road, he said.
"In terms of the whole operation, how we will be able to isolate that carbon tax specifically will be a bit of a challenge," he said.
"We may be able to see it at the gas pump, but do we attribute it all to the carbon tax or do we attribute it to the manufacturers or suppliers wanting to make a little more profit?
"I think there is going to be some real difficulty separating out what is the impact of the carbon levy and what is just normal practice. Yes, we use a lot of fuel, but at the same token those fuel prices go up and down on a regular basis. There are a lot of other forces in the market that are at play beyond the carbon levy."
"I think there is going to be some real difficulty separating out what is the impact of the carbon levy and what is just normal practice,"Bruce BeattieMountain View County reeve
