OLDS — Town council voted to approve a proposed 2024 Parkland Regional Library System (PRLS) budget which would see the amount charged per person increase by 43 cents per person, for a total increase of $4,065.
Olds is just one of 64 municipalities that are members of the PRLS. The board is scheduled to assess votes on its budget from all those municipalities during its Nov. 16 meeting.
"Basically, they’re looking at a five per cent increase, year over year, to their budget,” Coun. Darren Wilson, the town’s current rep on the PRLS board, said.
Coun. Heather Ryan, formerly the Olds representative on the PRLS board, voted against the Olds motion, saying she disagrees with the numbers the PRLS is using to calculate how much each community pays, an issue she raised last year.
To calculate how much money each community should provide, the PRLS has chosen to use an Alberta Treasury Board population number, which Ryan says, at 9,753, is roughly 500 people higher than the 2021 census of about 9,233 Olds residents.
“Why would we approve this budget when we are paying for people that we don’t even have,” Ryan asked. “It doesn’t make any sense to me.”
Ryan said by using the higher population numbers, the PRLS is able to keep requisition rates lower than they might otherwise be. She stressed that her argument is not with the PRLS charging what it needs to operate with the system, but that according to her, by using the Treasury Board numbers, it’s not being “transparent."
Wilson said he has been struggling with the issue. He said when the issue about the numbers came to the overall PRLS board, a motion to “align the numbers” was voted down.
However, he said the PRLS executive board did agree to look at the “implications” of aligning them.
Wilson said in order for the budget to be passed it must be approved by two-thirds of the 64 municipalities that belong to the region, representing two-thirds of the population.
He noted that last year’s budget received 71 per cent approval.
Coun. Harvey Walsh noted he previously served on the PRLS board for nine years.
“I’m glad to hear that the executive committee will be looking at it. Those consequences are huge,” he said.
Coun. James Cummings wondered if the town is legally bound to be a member of the PRLS, and as such must pay the requisition.
“What practicality is there in us saying no to this budget," he asked.
Chief administrative officer Brent Williams said the town could opt out if it wished, but the local library would not then be able to have access to -- and provide to its citizens -- the same services.
Coun. Dan Daley noted that costs for just about everything have increased these days. As a result, he said, a nearly $5,000 increase in PRLS fees didn’t seem out of line to him.
Wilson agreed with Daley that in a vast region like the one the PRLS covers, there are "winners and losers" because while population counts might be higher in one municipality, they may be lower in another and requistion rates would fluctuate accordingly.
Town councillors planned to attend the Alberta Municipalities convention and trade show, held Sept. 27-29 in Edmonton.
Wilson said it’s his understanding that except for this past year, the provincial government’s grant to libraries and library boards has been “fairly flat” over the past four or five years.
“So when you’re wheeling and dealing in Edmonton in the coming days, keep the library in mind,” he said.
