After the Town of Olds had to get a ministerial order to have our debt limit raised, I started to look into audited financial statements of Olds as well as other Alberta municipalities to compare debt.
What I found was Olds’ debt blew them all out of the water! It is now apparent to me that Olds has a spending, and subsequently, now a debt problem.
Town of Olds (population 9,753) debt: $35,458,486.00.
Provincial imposed debt limit: $36,880.647. Olds is now at 96 per cent of its debt limit.
In my opinion, this is not being fiscally responsible!
Comparing Olds to the Town of High River (population 14,434) debt: $8,509,001.00.
Provincial imposed debt limit: $51,309,633.00. High River is only at 16.5 per cent of it’s debt limit.
This is what being fiscally responsible looks like!
This council alone, over the last four years, has taken town debt from just under $16 million to over $35 million during an economic downturn. What responsible council does that?
Over the next five years, $ 11,000,000.00 of taxpayer monies will be required to service the debt.
Hopefully, the next council will see controlling spending a priority.
Dick Stauffer,
Olds
