Mountain View County has served notice it will not renew a cost-sharing agreement for public services with the Town of Olds once it expires in 2016.
County reeve Bruce Beattie wrote in a letter to the town dated Sept. 17 that his council has not been satisfied with its memorandum of agreement (MOA) with Olds, signed in 2007.
Under this 10-year agreement, county revenues are paid to the town in exchange for services including: water and wastewater, fire services, library, recreation and culture, family and community support services and the cemetery.
The letter was a surprise, said Norm McInnis, Olds' chief administrative officer, adding that despite the county hinting dissatisfaction with the MOA at its council meetings, he thought the two parties would improve upon it instead of having to draw up a new one altogether.
Without financial contribution from the county, the town would not be able to provide the same level of service, he said after an Olds town council meeting on Oct. 14.
“It's exciting and a little bit scary at the same time because we don't want to lose the level of funding that we have now, but there's certain parts of the MOA that are not working for either the town or the county,” McInnis said.
“So the exciting part is we can get back to the table and hopefully develop a better agreement that is a win-win for both the town and the county.”
McInnis said the county was unhappy with the tax-sharing portion of the MOA, where the town receives a total of 20 per cent of taxes collected by the county from properties in exchange for the town's water and wastewater services.
From the town's perspective, he said the agreement “wasn't as binding as we thought it was.”
Originally, the MOA's intent was to take a regional approach toward economic development, rather than competing with it, he said.
“So when you see things like Mountain View Dodge move ... out of town and that non- residential assessment that is so very important to us moves out, there's concerns,” he said. “So we need to get to the point where we collectively work together to attract non- residential assessment that's a benefit to both the town and the county."
The town and county scheduled a meeting together for Oct. 20 and McInnis said he hoped the two parties would discuss what they would gain from partnership.
