Good News & Bad News

The good news is that we've hired a new Public Works Foreman for the village. 

The bad news is that we lost a valuable councilor on Village Council.

Councilor Dave McKenzie accepted the position of Public Works foreman - but unfortunately that meant he had to resign as councilor to prevent a conflict of interest.  The provincial Municipal Government Act is very clear on who can be a councilor and who can't.  Dave had been working for the village through a temporary contractual situation, but that ended as soon as we hired him as our new foreman. 

I'll miss Dave on Council.  His perceptions, thoughts and candor were appreciated  and will be greatly missed.  But we now have the opportunity to elect a new councilor in a byelection, coming in early April. 

Good luck Dave!

Questions for the Candidates: Tangible Capital Assets

Today, I have a question for the provincial candidates in Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills about Tangible Capital Assets! 

For the last few years, Alberta municipalities have had to include a list of all their Tangible Capital Assets (TCAs) and the depreciation of those assets when building next year's budget.  For large municipalities, this isn't a hardship - but for smaller ones it can really hurt.

Let's say a town of 1500 Albertans wants a new public building.  They are given a provincial grant to build a multi-million dollar facility in their town.  That building must now be listed as a capital asset - and its depreciation calculated into the town's budgeting process.

According to the Municipal Government Act, the municipality cannot operate with a deficit budget, so they may have to raise taxes considerably to cover that amount - even though they didn't fund the project in the first place!  Smaller municipalities, like Beiseker, are the most vulnerable.

Question #2;  If elected as a government, will your party address this serious error in calculating a municipality's property taxes and financial status - and remove the TCA depreciation from the mix?