Mayor Jeff Genung says he doesn't want to "punch a gift horse in the mouth" when discussing the 13 per cent increase in Local Government Fiscal Framework (LGFF) funding. But the deeper you dive into the issue of municipal funding, the scarier the picture becomes.
Mayor Genung says all municipalities will agree it's a start, but still falls short of the needs of municipalities.
"There are many areas across the board where the province continues to cut and take away, and it ends up falling at the feet of the municipalities to pick up the slack," says Mayor Genung, who is also chair of the Alberta Mid-Sized Cities Mayors' Caucus (MCMC), "We're being asked to do more with a little bit more right now, so it's a step in the right direction."
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Cochrane will receive $580,000 more in capital funding from the province in 2025, up from $3,523,342 this year.
In isolation, 13 per cent seems impressive, but the $4.1 million the town will receive is only two-thirds of the $6 million-plus it received just a few years ago when you could stretch your dollars further.
"The trend is that we're having to do more and there's just not enough dollars to go around. So we're left as the lowest level of government with all of these costs, and the only way that we can establish more revenue is either by user fees, which affect most if not all, taxes, which affects all the landowners and subsequently the renters, etcetera, or grants from the government."
"These infrastructure projects are super expensive, especially given the cost of inflation recently and we just need the province to continue to recognize that the costs are rising, people are hurting, and municipalities don't have the funding to be able to keep up with the pace of the needs of our growing communities, especially the fast-growing communities."
Around every corner of Cochrane, there's a project to add to the list. The town's 10-year capital project is close to a billion dollars.
"And we're actually a community that's in good shape," he points out. "There are a lot of communities that are struggling financially as residents move away or businesses choose to move elsewhere and are struggling to make ends meet, and taxes are rising and people's pocketbooks aren't growing with it. It's a real tough environment to be able to operate a community in."
Premier Danielle Smith will soon be meeting with the mayors of the 24 communities forming the MCMC during their meetings in St. Albert from Oct. 16 to 18.
Mayor Genung was pleased to have some one-on-one time with the premier during the AB Munis convention where she shared her enthusiasm for MCMC and wanted to bounce some ideas off the group.
Genung says the MCMC has been encouraging the province to pilot some of its ideas with mid-sized cities.
"If she has, or the UCP has programs or funding opportunities that she would like to pilot, we're the size of communities that can accommodate that without having to test it across the board and then perhaps the province learns something and then adjust it to be applied to the entire province. That is one of the messages we continue to share with the premier."
Genung says the municipalities in the MCMC aren't looking for a hand-out. Instead, they have been advocating for partnerships with the province, such as the one created to complete a major upgrade to Hwy. 1A, Centre Ave. and 4th Ave.
"We get that there's only one taxpayer and raising the amount of funds in the funding pot to all communities is going to cost Alberta taxpayers, so we're looking to come up with some solutions to be able to provide to the province."