MOUNTAIN VIEW COUNTY - Mountain View County Reeve Angela Aalbers says the municipality is concerned that it will be receiving significantly less Municipal Sustainability Initiative (MSI) funding under the 2022 provincial budget than it has in the past, funds that are used to support important infrastructure in the county.
“Looking back, this is less than half of what we received back in 2013 ($4.37 million) and 2014 ($4.89 million),” said Aalbers. “We continue to be concerned on the MSI for 2022, 2023 and beyond, which is expected to be $2.1 million annually for Mountain View County.”
Rural Municipalities of Alberta (RMA) and Alberta municipalities (AM) are in discussions with the government to determine a formula for transitioning to the local government fiscal framework (LGFF), which will be replacing the MSI grant, she noted.
“This is the money that municipalities use for capital projects and for MVC it predominantly goes to maintaining and upgrading our road infrastructure,” she said.
“The trend is we must do more with a lot less, resulting in a shift of focus for MVC to capital maintenance and a deferral of all capital enhancement/road upgrades that were in our five-year capital plan.”
The county is pleased with the $59 million announced in infrastructure over the next three years to expand the veterinarian school at the University of Calgary, she said.
“This is in line with the county’s resolution being put forward to the RMA members in March, requesting the province, in part, increase Alberta’s ability to train and retain rural veterinarians,” she said.
Increases in health-care spending are also welcome, and “although the hospitals within the borders of Mountain View County were not named in the health facility spending announcement, we will continue to lobby for provincial financial investment in our hospitals,” she said.
An Olds College-MVC committee working on agriculture plastics will be working towards securing some of the $37-million grant in 2022 for Results Driven Agriculture Research (RDAR), she said.
“At first review of the budget, it appears that both the Family and Community Support Services (FCSS) and library funding have remained unchanged, which is good news for our communities,” she said.
“Overall, it is good to see that the government has managed to put forward a balanced budget. Our hope is that 2022 sees more stability for our businesses, lower inflation rates and more opportunity for economic development.”
Carstairs pleased with stability, says mayor
Meanwhile, Town of Carstairs Mayor Lance Colby said the continuation of the MSI program in 2022 is welcomed.
“It gives us some stability in knowing where we can move forward and how to plan our roads and paving,” said Colby. “I see the MSI is going to continue along the same path for a few years until they change it over. It is going to be based on the government revenue, so that is interesting.
‘We are looking at about $464,000 (in 2022) which certainly will help and it is good news because at least now we know what to expect. At least we are stable in that way and we know what we can roughly expect.
“Of course that changes if population changes as well, but at least we know what we are looking at and that gives us an idea on what to budget for.”
The town’s total funding under MSI in 2022 will be $504,991, including $464,223 in capital funding.
Balanced budget welcome, say Didsbury mayor
Town of Didsbury Mayor Rhonda Hunter said the fact the provincial budget is balanced is welcomed.
“If we are having a balanced budget and a surplus (at the provincial level) and we continue to advocate for municipalities to continue to receive the funding we need for our infrastructure then it’s promising,” said Hunter.
“When citizens and industry and agencies succeed, we succeed and thrive.”
Didsbury’s MSI funding in 2022 will total $713,410, including $540,506 capital funding.
Hunter says she is concerned about the rising cost of living in the community.
“We are paying dearly at the gas pumps and that affects everyone,” she said. “There are a lot of commuters in Alberta right now and gas prices affects the bottom line in what people are bringing home.
“The utilities certainly could have been addressed. That is a huge bump for people.”
