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?
