Dissoution of Beiseker as a Municipality?

There has been some chatter around that our village should dissolve and become another part of Rocky View County. I personally think this would be a very bad idea!

Here are my reasons for keeping our village as an independent municipality.

• As part of the County, we would be represented in municipal government on the County Council. We would have one councilor to voice our support or concerns on matters associated with the village. Instead of five councilors representing the 800 of us, we would have just one representing this whole corner of the County. That one councilor could easily be outvoted by councilors for the West side of the County. In other words, the future of our village would be dictated by councilors from Springbank and the Cochrane area!
• Both municipalities would have to agree to the amalgamation. I am not sure that the County would want another urban area in their jurisdiction.
• If such an amalgamation should occur, the County was most certainly not want to carry any debt load created by the village. I would imagine that this debt load would be simply assigned back to the former municipality. I suspect property taxes would go up considerably.
• I'm not sure that the folks living in urban areas within the county right now are really truly happy with their situation. Areas like Langdon, Bearspaw, Redwood Meadows, and others are in my opinion underrepresented in municipal government. I have no problems with a rural county overseeing industrial and commercial subdivisions, however I do believe that urban residential areas are better served by a local municipal government.

Unlike many provincial  politicians, I believe that the small municipalities are a very important part of Alberta's structure. It was small communities that built this province long before megacities were even considered!

I know that many of these small communities have disappeared. Those that still exist have an important part in the fabric of Alberta. Congestion at all levels in the cities is getting unbearable! Smaller centers have an eager and talented workforce, land available for development, and far less traffic congestion. If the cities are the heart of this province then the small municipalities are indeed the other organs that keep this province alive!

If such a movement to dissolve our village as a municipality ever shows its ugly head, I will use every legal means at my disposal to fight that very shortsighted idea!