Local municipalities will be working on their relationships with one another as a result of changes to the Municipal Government Act.
Last Tuesday (May 31), the provincial NDPs tabled their Modernized Municipal Government Act (MGA).
A main focus of the act is regional partnerships – getting neighbouring municipalities to share facilities and the associated costs.
Being referred to as an inter-municipal collaboration framework (ICF), municipalities will have three years to come to an agreement with their neighbours.
Failing that, the province will send in an arbitrator, as the agreement is mandatory.
“The two municipalities in our case would have to agree on what is the MD of Bonnyville's impact on the City of Cold Lake. So, how much are they willing to share? We're going to have to draw up the ICF and agree,” said Cold Lake Mayor Craig Copeland. “That's going to be a wide conversation, and the history in our region indicates it's going to be a hard conversation to get people to recognize their fair share.”
Currently, the MGA gives communities the option to enter into cooperative initiatives, but those are done on a voluntary basis.
Under the modernized MGA, it is required that municipalities develop cost-sharing agreements that will help cover both the capital and operating costs for infrastructure and services, such as wastewater, emergency management and transportation. The framework must be flexible enough to support existing collaborative agreements already in place, such as the one the MD has in place with its surrounding municipalities.
While three years is a short timeline for hammering out an extensive agreement, according to MD of Bonnyville Reeve Ed Rondeau the municipalities are already well on their way.
“I don't think we're that far off that type of an agreement already. We have an extremely good relationship with the Town of Bonnyville and Glendon, and a reasonably good relationship with the City of Cold Lake.”
Rondeau added, “We've got a program that's $5 million we're sharing between Cold Lake, Bonnyville and Glendon, so we do have something already in place. The next question that's going to arise out of the negotiations is whether the $5 million is enough or too much.”
The ICF comes in place of any changes to the current linear tax assessment system, which was a point of contention between urban and rural municipalities during the review process.
“The NDP government didn't go all the way, they parachuted out. They were talking revenue sharing and instead they took the first exit they could and came up with the ICF. They're not taking any assessment away from the county. This is something the urbans have been asking for years; there's an assessment inequity in Alberta,” Copeland said.
While pleased the government won't be changing the linear assessment system, Rondeau expressed that's likely where the MD will pull the funds from for cost-shared projects.
In addition to the ICF, the modernized MGA allows municipalities to use off-site levies to pay for facilities such as libraries, fire halls, and swimming pools.
Municipal councils now also have the power to divide non-residential properties into different subclasses for taxes.
Overall, Copeland expressed that the modernization of the MGA isn't entirely what he was hoping for.
“I personally feel they didn't deliver the gamechanging documents we need as municipalities for equalized communities throughout Alberta – I don't think we've achieved this.”
