Alberta's Minister of Municipal Affairs is reviewing Bonnyville Mayor Ernie Isley's proposal asking the province to split tax assessment on the air weapon's range among the town, Glendon, the MD of Bonnyville and Cold Lake.
The proposal would split an estimate municipal tax assessment worth $10 million to the four municipalities based on the residency of service workers and employees who work on the range.
Isley's proposal will be part of the piles of information used to discuss the future of the air weapons range, said Minister of Municipal Affairs Hector Goudreau in an interview after he answered questions with other ministers during a Conversation With the Ministers event at the Flint Field House on Feb. 15.
“It's not going to be ignored and it's going to be part of the overall process as we are moving along,” he said.
Goudreau said he is very concerned about the viability of 4 Wing and the base.
“We don't want to get into a situation where we might lose them. Then nobody wins in this and everybody loses,” he said.
“The whole idea is to strengthen the region, to strengthen our individual municipalities.
“Somewhere along the line as government we need to draw lines and we need to make sure that as many people as possible benefit by our decisions.”
Leaders from Cold Lake are worried about the potential ramifications of a provincial review of tax assessment from the air weapons range.
“4 Wing is the largest employer in the region and the base commander is having difficulty attracting personnel to Cold Lake,” said Duane Lay, acting deputy mayor for Cold Lake at press time.
“When the colonel goes public, it's got to be pretty bad because they usually don't like to get involved in local politics.”
Lay said he felt the province understood the economic contribution of the military in northeastern Alberta and the decision would reflect that.
The close to $17 million in education and municipal tax assessment from the range should come south, said MD of Bonnyville Reeve Ed Rondeau last week.
“It is definitely to the region's benefit to have the air weapons range (assessment) come south,” he said. “Whichever way it goes, those things have to be negotiated.”
The primary focus is to bring the money south and how it is divided is secondary, he said.
“That's new money, money that wasn't there last year. Money that if this goes ahead will be new money into the region.”
Goudreau said he “didn't appreciate the tone” of other letters he has received from the Bonnyville mayor.
“If we're talking regional water systems that impact the residents of this community, then I agree that this community should be at the table, but if we're talking about a very specific issue that involves one particular community, then I would hope that the other communities would butt out and stay out of it,” he said.
“I still think that Mr. Isley has a municipality to take care of and I think he does a great job in representing his municipality, and maybe he should keep his comments to that,” Goudreau said.
Isley's political affiliation switched from the Progressive Conservatives to the Wildrose Alliance last year.
