MOUNTAIN VIEW COUNTY – The 2020 provincial budget released last week has been receiving mixed reviews from stakeholders.
Released on Feb. 27, the budget includes $20.6 billion for health services including $5.4 billion on physicians, $8.3 billion for education, $6.9 billion for building and maintaining infrastructure projects, $3.9 billion for community and social services, and $1.6 billion for children’s services.
Bruce Beattie is the reeve of Mountain View County. He says the municipality will be facing tough choices in response to the budget.
“It looks like the focus is on reducing costs and part of that process is to transfer those costs to municipalities,” said Beattie. “We don’t have the luxury of running a deficit so we have to balance our budgets, so we either raise taxes or cut services. Those are our only choices.
“With the education tax, for example, the province is going to maintain their funding, but the increase that they are going to put in is going to come from the municipalities that we are asked to collect. For our county we are looking at about a $300,000 hit that we are going to have to find to cover off those costs.”
Rural municipalities are also facing added costs for such things as policing and seniors' housing, he said.
“There’s a cumulative effect that is happening,” he said. “We can ask the right questions of the province and then we have to educate our ratepayers so they hopefully understand the consequences of the province’s decisions and how they affect our decisions.”
Nathan Cooper is the UCP MLA for Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills.
“I don’t think there were many surprises in the budget,” said Cooper. “The government is committed to the plan that they were elected on and I think that’s what we’ve seen delivered in this budget. It is focused on jobs and the economy and ensuring fiscal responsibility in the province.”
“We remain committed to eliminating the deficit by the end of this term and ensuring that we stick to our campaign commitments and that is what the finance minister has delivered.”
Regarding spending on key portfolios, he said, “This year we will see record amounts spent in health and education and so we remain committed to not cutting in those areas but ensuring that government spending doesn’t continue to grow. Health and education are priorities for this government.”
Cooper said $100 million earmarked for expansion of the Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre is good news for the region.
“This is a referral hospital for our region. Successive governments have neglected to invest a proportional amount of resources into Central Alberta health care and this $100 million is certainly a step in the right direction for our region. It’s a really positive thing for our region.”
Al Kemmere is the president of the 69-member Rural Municipalities of Alberta (RMA) Association.
The association is pleased that funding for Family and Community Support Services and libraries has been maintained in the budget, he said.
“The effects are nowhere near as extreme as I thought they would be,” said Kemmere. “I’m pleased that the impacts weren’t any more substantial. There are some positives here.”
The association does have some concerns with the budget, he said.
“The province has decided to not increase their cost of education, but they are increasing the requisition that we are expected to take from the property taxes,” he said. “So that is more or less an off-load of their tax onto us, which is something we are not overly tickled with.
“Now there is an extra $100 million that has to come from the municipalities to pay for education tax and that hurts. They are getting us to pay more of it. That is a four per cent increase that they are downloading onto us and that’s a concern.”
Municipalities have only three options: reduce services, increase taxes and decrease capital investments, he said.
“None of those are great choices,” he said. “We have to run balanced budgets and now to have those things arbitrarily put on our shoulders is going to make municipal government much more difficult in the future.”
Millions of dollars in unpaid taxes owed by oil and gas companies, a reduction in municipal sustainability initiative grants, and increased policing costs all remain concerns for many municipalities, including Mountain View County, he said.
Didsbury mayor Rhonda Hunter got to travel to Edmonton last week for both the budget address and the throne speech.
She said it was a great opportunity and something all elected officials should participate in at some point in their terms.
“It was a privilege to be a guest of the Honourable Nathan Cooper, Speaker of the house, and a great opportunity to watch our provincial government at work,” said Hunter.
Hunter said the budget was all about getting Alberta back to work, which she said, “is something we can all support.” Hunter had no comment on how the budget will affect Didsbury residents.
“We will be reviewing and discussing the actual budget document and summary as it relates to municipalities and funding and any effects it will have on the town today and in the coming days,” she said.
Hunter said that council and town staff are aware that the education tax is going to go up four per cent this year, “so all Albertan taxpayers will see that increase on their tax bills this spring.”
Travis Toews is the provincial minister of finance.
“Budget 2020 continues our focus on creating jobs, growing our economy and streamlining programs and services to ensure a sustainable future,” said Toews.
“Our plan is working. We are on track to balance the budget by 2022-2023 and Alberta’s surplus in that year is expected to be higher than that projected in budget 2019.”
Rachel Notley is the NDP official Opposition leader.
“Albertans will pay far more and get far less,” said Notley. “This budget offers no hope to the 50,000 Albertans who have lost their job since this government began on its misguided path, and in fact aims to push more public service workers into unemployment. It contains no plan to diversify our economy.
“I am particularly concerned by Jason Kenney attacking seniors’ health through a $72 million cut to the seniors drug benefit program.”
