Didsbury mayor Rhonda Hunter says one of the main messages she took out of the recent Alberta Urban Municipalities Association (AUMA) conference was that the upcoming provincial budget will very likely include some cuts to funding.
Held at the Edmonton Convention Centre, the conference included addresses from Premier Jason Kenney and other politicians.
The association represents large and small urban municipalities, including the towns in Mountain View County. About 1,100 elected officials and others attended the conference.
“People are certainly worried about the budget that is coming down,” said Hunter. “The premier gave his address with the message that we are expecting budget cuts and he advised us to expect budget cuts. They are wanting us to restrain spending and reduce costs.
“What we are hearing is 15 per cent (reduction) of what we are used to getting in provincial transfers, so that’s including everything, your FCSS, your libraries, your operating budget, your capital budget. So that’s what we are hearing. Every minister had that message. There are going to be cuts and the message is loud and clear and everybody is saying it.”
The budget will be announced Oct. 24.
During his address to the AUMA convention, Premier Jason Kenney said municipalities should expect a tough budget.
“We cannot continue to kick this problem down the road,” said Kenney. “We cannot live forever off of our credit card. We cannot spend money that we do not have. We cannot endlessly burden future generations to pay back plus interest with their taxes for what we spend and consume today.
“We don’t need to do what happened in 1993, but we will be asking our public-sector unions to work with us on bringing balance back to the province’s finances.”
The province will be seeking input from municipalities regarding Alberta’s finances, he said.
Opposition Leader Rachel Notley also addressed the convention.
“Capital funding and maintenance for municipalities is clearly on the chopping block,” said Notley. “It’s an easy target because when potholes get deeper and wider and when the roof of that rec centre is leaking, they (the province) don’t have to take the angry phone calls and they don’t have to reconsider their mill rate.
“The premier knows there is only one taxpayer, but he would prefer that the taxpayer be angry at a government that is not his.”
Lance Colby is the mayor of Carstairs. He also attended the AUMA conference.
“The biggest thing in the provincial budget,” said Colby. “We are all waiting to see what is really going to happen then. They said it will not be as drastic as in 1993.
“I image we will be looking at a 10 to 15 per cent cut so we will look at that. We’ve already been looking at that and gearing around that to look at what we are going to do in the future.”
The town will be starting budget deliberations soon, and will be awaiting the Oct. 24 provincial budget as part of that process, he said.
There was also talk at the conference about policing, he said.
“We talked to the chief of the Taber police and made arrangements to go down there and see them,” he said. “We have an enhanced officer here, but we are also talking to the RCMP about what their prospects are for the area. We had some discussions on that.
“We look around to see what is out there and what would benefit our community the most and the most cost-efficient option for our community.”
Al Kemmere, the president of the Rural Municipalities of Alberta (RMA) and a Mountain View County councillor, attended part of the conference.
“I heard the messaging from the premier,” said Kemmere. “It’s positive to hear that the cuts will not be as drastic as we fear, but at the same time, time will tell when the budget comes out on the 24th.
“People were told that there are changes coming. He (Kenney) more or less said it is going to have to be a partnership at all levels of government to get the economy back in order. He said the cuts will be nowhere near what they were in 1993, when they did significant cuts.”
The RMA represents 69 rural municipalities, including Mountain View and Red Deer counties.
