With several regions in the province adopting a singular regional government over the past number of years, a host of local politicians weighed in on what a regionalized government would do for residents and services in the area.
After studying regional governments in Alberta and keeping a ongoing report, City of Cold Lake Mayor Craig Copeland said it would be beneficial for municipalities in the MD of Bonnyville, including the Town of Bonnyville, the Village of Glendon and the City of Cold Lake to amalgamate into one or two regions so as to “spread the wealth” more evenly.
“I'm a big fan of regional government, and that's simply because I can see the benefit of everyone coming together, specifically in this area where everything is within a one hour radius,” Copeland said. “Everyone gets very, very defensive in municipalities defending their positions, but if you were to look at the greater good of the community, the greater good of its residents and the greater good of everything as a whole, then we need to come together.”
Copeland said the main issue is the “huge disparity” in assessment funds rural and urban municipalities receive each year through taxes. According to Copeland's report, in 2011 the MD of Bonnyville's total assessment for the year, which includes residential tax, non-residential tax, assessment linear and the assessment MNE (machinery and equipment), was just over $4.1 billion. He said the town of Bonnyville's total assessment was just over $752 million, while Glendon's sat at $32.8 million. The City of Cold Lake, before receiving anything from the Air Weapons Range was right around $1.7 billion.
“Although those numbers might not mean much to the average person read out like that, once we study them and get all the information out, it starts to become a little more telling,” Copeland said.
Municipalities in Alberta, whether urban or rural, operate through assessments. Copeland said whether it was a house, a pipeline, a local business or a large oil plant, they are assessed by the municipalities and given what is called a mill rate. The authority will then multiply the assessed value of the property by the set mill rate and then divide by a thousand, giving the municipality a number to charge back to that property by way of property tax.
He went on to say from the Town of Bonnyville, Glendon and Cold Lake's total assessment, roughly 80 per cent of money received was brought in by way of residential tax, whereas the MD of Bonnyville brought in $1.269 billion of its $4.1 billion total assessment by way of residential tax – just under 31 per cent.
According to Copeland, the most important number to take into account is total assessment per capita, which determines how much one individual is worth to the municipality they live in. From the numbers above, he said the Town of Bonnyville's total assessment per capita was $116,301, the Village of Glendon's is $67,967, the City of Cold Lake's, before money received from the Air Weapons Range, is $122,974 and the MD of Bonnyville's is $454,543.
The disparity, according to Copeland, boils down to the fact, in this area the majority of taxes paid by oil and gas companies go to the MD. He said urban areas, such as Bonnyville and Cold Lake, are always going to struggle while this system survives.
“The problem Bonnyville has and the problem Cold Lake has is they are not fortunate enough to have these huge oil plants or pipelines within their municipal limits, which is right because those things should not be in urban areas,” Copeland said. “But it leaves the urbans with very little room to maneuver. Throughout Alberta there are certain rural municipalities that have seen a rampant increase in their overall assessments over the last ten years, and that's directly related to the oil and gas activity.”
“The way I see it though, is these urban areas are providing all the essential services for the rural areas, but they're forgotten about. If things carry on the way they are today, assessment rates will always be very skewed to the favour of rural municipalities.”
Copeland said you only need to look at places like Strathcona County, the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, and even Lac La Biche County to realize a “new” model of regional government certainly has the potential to be a success.
“Strathcona County, which of course includes the urban centre of Sherwood Park is a prime model of an urban and rural coming together to form one successful level (of government),” Copeland said. “Back in 2011, Strathcona County had 88,000 residents and they were at $23 billion worth of assessments, or $263,000 per capita.”
“Then the next one is Lac La Biche County, where the city of Lac La Biche merged with what was then called Lakeland County. Again, having this rural assessment is helping the government up there rebuild and fix the town of Lac La Biche.”
Copeland said to be able to run a municipality comfortably and be able to do all the necessary things, the total assessment per capita should sit “probably” above $200,000.
“Once you reach that $200,000 in an urban community, you can really start to do wonders, and when you look and see that the Town of Bonnyville is currently claiming $116,301 per capita you can see how they are maybe struggling a little bit. I just think if we can get past the protectionism for the future of the region, we would be far better off pooling all our money together and creating one, perhaps maybe even two regions with the County of Bonnyville and the County of Cold Lake, but a lot of people are going to have to put their individual agendas aside and look at this as a whole.”
The Mayor of Lac La Biche County, Aurel Langevin, said moving into a regionalized government was something he would “greatly encourage” most counties that have both rural and urban areas to do after witnessing a much improved system in Lac La Biche since amalgamating in 2007.
“What regional government does is limit the size of government and limits the competition between urban and rural areas,” Langevin told the Nouvelle last week. “It's a win-win for the county, it's a win-win for rural people and a win-win for urban people.”
Langevin believes you will always get people opposed to moving into a regionalized government, specifically people living and operating in rural areas. But he said those people needed to understand how much they rely on the urban centres to be able to live their daily lives, while also adding the ability to pool all taxation together to carry out costly projects on such things as transportation and infrastructure was a “real plus.”
“As far as I can tell, the majority of people who live in rural areas travel to urban areas and use their services – I'm talking for shopping, recreation, religious activity and for hospital and medical care,” Langevin said. “But it's working very well for us as a county so far…because it really does limit the competition, and limits all the in-fighting.”
Current Bonnyville town councillor and deputy mayor John Irwin voiced his support for a regionalized government, but said he wasn't sure if there was a willingness in this community to make that transition yet.
“I definitely think it's feasible that a regionalized government could work and it's probably an idea whose time has come. I've seen a number of areas adopt this style of government, with my own hometown of Mission, BC doing it back in 1969. It's worked well there ever since, and then looking closer to home here, Strathcona County did it, Lac La Biche County did it and the Rural Municipality of Wood Buffalo did it, so it's got a proven track record.”
Despite saying regional government would perhaps be a good forward thinking step in the future, Irwin was keen to stress the good working relationship the Town of Bonnyville enjoys with the MD, stating the two partner up on a number of different projects and initiatives.
“We work very well here with our counterparts at the MD on a number of things, including the airport, sewage lagoons, garbage collection, they help fund the swimming pool, library, C2 Centre so we definitely share a lot,” Irwin said. “That being said, I definitely think we'd get heard more at a provincial level if we had one strong voice rather than several smaller ones, and it would also get rid of certain unnecessary duplications.”
Fellow councillor, Gene Sobolewski, who is running for mayor in October's election, said he had some reservations over converting to a regionalized government, stating there is a number of different avenues that could be approached first.
“I'm somewhat cautious of regional governance because I think it's something that needs to be approached very carefully and needs to be well thought out over time,” Sobolewski said. “There are a number of what I would deem to be pitfalls with it, I'm sure there are a number of benefits, but a number of challenges too.”
Sobolewski said if the reasoning behind pushing to transition into a regional government was to “chase funds” he would sooner see council looking closer at developing additional partnerships and studying other areas before “jumping both feet” into backing a new form of government.
“My opinion is that this is a little on the premature side, but I also think the status quo and operating with the current models of government is not going to work in the long term,” Sobolewski said. “There are a number of pitfalls and much disparity between urban and rurals, particularly rurals that have a lot of resources by way of MNE and linear assessments. But there is work that can be done and discussions that could be had where we can discuss this disparity. We did it back in 2007 and started to make some good headway, coming up with our Inter-Municipal Recreation Agreement.”
According to Copeland, the most important number to take into account is total assessment per capita, which determines how much one individual is worth to the municipality they live in. From the numbers above, he said the Town of Bonnyville's total assessment per capita was $116,301, the Village of Glendon's is $67,967, the City of Cold Lake's, before money received from the Air Weapons Range, is $122,974 and the MD of Bonnyville's is $454,543.
The disparity, according to Copeland, boils down to the fact, in this area the majority of taxes paid by oil and gas companies go to the MD. He said urban areas, such as Bonnyville and Cold Lake, are always going to struggle while this system survives.
“The problem Bonnyville has and the problem Cold Lake has is they are not fortunate enough to have these huge oil plants or pipelines within their municipal limits, which is right because those things should not be in urban areas,” Copeland said. “But it leaves the urbans with very little room to maneuver. Throughout Alberta there are certain rural municipalities that have seen a rampant increase in their overall assessments over the last ten years, and that's directly related to the oil and gas activity.”
“The way I see it though, is these urban areas are providing all the essential services for the rural areas, but they're forgotten about. If things carry on the way they are today, assessment rates will always be very skewed to the favour of rural municipalities.”
Copeland said you only need to look at places like Strathcona County, the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, and even Lac La Biche County to realize a “new” model of regional government certainly has the potential to be a success.
“Strathcona County, which of course includes the urban centre of Sherwood Park is a prime model of an urban and rural coming together to form one successful level (of government),” Copeland said. “Back in 2011, Strathcona County had 88,000 residents and they were at $23 billion worth of assessments, or $263,000 per capita.”
“Then the next one is Lac La Biche County, where the city of Lac La Biche merged with what was then called Lakeland County. Again, having this rural assessment is helping the government up there rebuild and fix the town of Lac La Biche.”
Copeland said to be able to run a municipality comfortably and be able to do all the necessary things, the total assessment per capita should sit “probably” above $200,000.
“Once you reach that $200,000 in an urban community, you can really start to do wonders, and when you look and see that the Town of Bonnyville is currently claiming $116,301 per capita you can see how they are maybe struggling a little bit. I just think if we can get past the protectionism for the future of the region, we would be far better off pooling all our money together and creating one, perhaps maybe even two regions with the County of Bonnyville and the County of Cold Lake, but a lot of people are going to have to put their individual agendas aside and look at this as a whole.”
The Mayor of Lac La Biche County, Aurel Langevin, said moving into a regionalized government was something he would “greatly encourage” most counties that have both rural and urban areas to do after witnessing a much improved system in Lac La Biche since amalgamating in 2007.
“What regional government does is limit the size of government and limits the competition between urban and rural areas,” Langevin told the Nouvelle last week. “It's a win-win for the county, it's a win-win for rural people and a win-win for urban people.”
Langevin believes you will always get people opposed to moving into a regionalized government, specifically people living and operating in rural areas. But he said those people needed to understand how much they rely on the urban centres to be able to live their daily lives, while also adding the ability to pool all taxation together to carry out costly projects on such things as transportation and infrastructure was a “real plus.”
“As far as I can tell, the majority of people who live in rural areas travel to urban areas and use their services – I'm talking for shopping, recreation, religious activity and for hospital and medical care,” Langevin said. “But it's working very well for us as a county so far…because it really does limit the competition, and limits all the in-fighting.”
Current Bonnyville town councillor and deputy mayor John Irwin voiced his support for a regionalized government, but said he wasn't sure if there was a willingness in this community to make that transition yet.
“I definitely think it's feasible that a regionalized government could work and it's probably an idea whose time has come. I've seen a number of areas adopt this style of government, with my own hometown of Mission, BC doing it back in 1969. It's worked well there ever since, and then looking closer to home here, Strathcona County did it, Lac La Biche County did it and the Rural Municipality of Wood Buffalo did it, so it's got a proven track record.”
Despite saying regional government would perhaps be a good forward thinking step in the future, Irwin was keen to stress the good working relationship the Town of Bonnyville enjoys with the MD, stating the two partner up on a number of different projects and initiatives.
“We work very well here with our counterparts at the MD on a number of things, including the airport, sewage lagoons, garbage collection, they help fund the swimming pool, library, C2 Centre so we definitely share a lot,” Irwin said. “That being said, I definitely think we'd get heard more at a provincial level if we had one strong voice rather than several smaller ones, and it would also get rid of certain unnecessary duplications.”
Fellow councillor, Gene Sobolewski, who is running for mayor in October's election, said he had some reservations over converting to a regionalized government, stating there is a number of different avenues that could be approached first.
“I'm somewhat cautious of regional governance because I think it's something that needs to be approached very carefully and needs to be well thought out over time,” Sobolewski said. “There are a number of what I would deem to be pitfalls with it, I'm sure there are a number of benefits, but a number of challenges too.”
Sobolewski said if the reasoning behind pushing to transition into a regional government was to “chase funds” he would sooner see council looking closer at developing additional partnerships and studying other areas before “jumping both feet” into backing a new form of government.
“My opinion is that this is a little on the premature side, but I also think the status quo and operating with the current models of government is not going to work in the long term,” Sobolewski said. “There are a number of pitfalls and much disparity between urban and rurals, particularly rurals that have a lot of resources by way of MNE and linear assessments. But there is work that can be done and discussions that could be had where we can discuss this disparity. We did it back in 2007 and started to make some good headway, coming up with our Inter-Municipal Recreation Agreement.”
“If in the future people think this is the way forward, then ok. But essentially, I'm taking a bit of a cautious approach. On the face of it, if someone were to ask me if I was in favour, I'd have to lean towards no, not with the current circumstances.”
MLA for Bonnyville – Cold Lake Genia Leskiw said this was something that she personally thought “is eventually going to happen” but that it will be up to the citizens of Bonnyville, Cold Lake and the MD to make a decision, seemingly ruling out any provincial interference.
“I personally think this is something that will eventually happen and I think it's the way to go to benefit the entire region. At the moment, I think we're a bit like a three-legged chair here – Cold Lake being the commercial, Bonnyville being the industrial and the MD being the primary oil source. Having all three legs of the stool together would really make this area a powerhouse in the province. Unfortunately, I just don't think the people here are ready for it yet. The MD certainly won't be in favour of it in the near future.”
With Copeland and Langevin both stating this was something that would possibly require assistance from the provincial government, Leskiw seemingly put to bed any rumours that the province would be interfering at the municipal level in the region.
“(Provincial) government does not like to impose on the municipalities. They have their own elected bodies and we like to encourage local municipalities to work together and make decisions that are beneficial to the entire region rather than come in and make decisions for them,” Leskiw said.
MD of Bonnyville Reeve Ed Rondeau seemed unhappy to hear about talk of regional government, claiming those pushing for the move don't understand how much money the MD invests on a yearly basis maintaining the region's roads.
“I think when the time comes, and if the time comes for the MD of Bonnyville to amalgamate with the Town of Bonnyville, the City of Cold Lake, the Village of Glendon or all of them, it's going to be decided by the people of the MD, because they are the ones that will wind up footing the bill and paying for all the services in the urban areas,” Rondeau said. “They will be wanting to use MD money, rural municipal money, to support their infrastructure, but what everybody forgets and don't talk about is the money we spend on our roads.”
Rondeau said the MD spends roughly 65 per cent of its annual budget maintaining roads throughout the district. He added the impact of moving to a regionalized government would be “substantial” on the people of the MD, stating that once you start dividing money up on a per capita basis, there wouldn't be enough money to provide the necessary maintenance to roads and infrastructure in the area.
Copeland stated municipalities will always use roads as an excuse to justify their assessment numbers until somebody steps up and tries to push a collective regional government.
“What the municipalities will often say is they have so many roads they need to take care of, and they'll talk about that (forever),” Copeland said. “But the urbans, and an association called the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association, does a very poor job of saying ‘wait on a minute, in an urban we have our water, sewage, roads and basic standard of development we have to keep up with, certainly much higher than that of a rural.' But these rurals do a fantastic job of defending their assessment because they have all these kilometers of roads.”
He added that should rural municipalities still be against amalgamation, they should look at a system that would share a percentage of their assessment revenue with surrounding urban communities, so as to spread the wealth and help urbans develop and maintain services.
“If the MD were to give, lets say maybe 20 per cent or 30 per cent of their assessment rates to Bonnyville and Glendon – that would mean Bonnyville gets $10.5 million of new money each year, and Glendon would get $782,000 of new money each year. It's not perfect, but it would be something.
“At the end of the day, I think we definitely need to sit down and have a conversation. Whether people are going to flip out or not, there needs to be a sharing of the pie. The term ‘sharing revenue' has always been a sensitive topic and always will be a sensitive topic, but it our case, if the City of Cold Lake merged, or the MD of Bonnyville merged with the Town of Bonnyville and the Village of Glendon, it would tie everything in a nice bow. Joe Taxpayer doesn't really care who is governing them or who the politicians are, they just want to make sure their taxes are fair and ensure the services they are receiving are to a certain standard of quality, and I think by amalgamating they would get that.”
