Beiseker's Finances & the AUMA

I am most concerned about our villages financial problems. 

The property tax hike this year was, in my opinion, too high. Now we are being told that our village has operated at a deficit for many years! 

During my term as mayor of Beiseker this village never ran a deficit! It is true that we chose not to fully address our Tangible Capital Assets and their depreciation. Which means that if the new airport runway surface suddenly crumbled, every piece of village equipment suddenly broke down, and every water pipe and sewer pipe in the ground sprung a leak all on the same day, the village would be in strife! 

The chances of that happening are slim and nil! Several years ago, the provincial government decided that it would be good idea for municipalities to create a slush fund to pay for replacements of our equipment and infrastructure, and account for the depreciation of its assets.  It might've been a good idea for larger municipalities - but for small ones like ours, it was totally ridiculous. If you take into account the depreciation and replacement of our tangible capital assets, the village would be in a deficit!  However, in my term as mayor the village always paid its bills and we actually ran a very small surplus!  

I think Village Council is getting some bad advice. I think they need to reread the entire Municipal Government Act and the auditor's reports from the last 10 years. Although I was one of five councilors, I was still hurt when I read that the former council was insinuated as being irresponsible in Beiseker's finances.  We did no such thing!

The AUMA Convention:

Every fall the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association holds a convention. They been held in Calgary, Edmonton, and recently again in Red Deer. Our village council has decided not to go to the convention this fall.  I think this is a very shortsighted decision, and needs to be readdressed! 

The convention gives municipalities the chance to address government officials in person directly. There is even a session which permits municipal leaders to directly address the many newly elected cabinet ministers involved in their operation! 

With the recent change of government, Beiseker needs to be seen and heard at this convention! Maybe just one councilor and the CAO should go, but someone needs to represent our village there!

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?

2014 AUMA Convention News

Last week, members of Beiseker village council attended the annual convention of the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association in Edmonton.  The convention venue alternates between Edmonton and Calgary, and this year was Edmonton's turn.

There's a trade show, workshops, meetings with the Ministries, and get-togethers throughout the three day convention. 

Beiseker's meetings with the ministries were all on Wednesday.  First, we met with Environment and Sustainable Resource Development to discuss our flooding issues.  Our biggest difficulty with flood water is dealing with the huge volume of water we receive into the village from Rocky View County!  We asked Alberta Environment to help us deal with this huge volume of water, simply because we can't afford to do it alone.  We will be developing a plan to help alleviate the problem, working with the province and the County.

Next we were off to see Municipal Affairs.  To our surprise, the newly appointed Minister of Municipal Affairs, Diana McQueen was there to greet us.  We once again talked about our flooding issues and asked for their help, too.  We also discussed the difficulty small municipalities have with the new policy of depreciating Tangible Capital Assets (TCAs).

About three years ago, the provincial government decided that all municipalities should record ALL their assets.  That included all village owned buildings, vehicles, property, fire hydrants, water pipes and sewer pipes!  Then we have to depreciate all those things and include that amount in our yearly financial statements!  When we have an expensive year like 2013 (huge snow removal bills, water main leaks, etc.), and we include the TCA depreciation, it shows us operating very close to the wire!  This policy is not fair to small municipalities.  I think we made that quite clear.

Our last visit was to Alberta Transportation to talk about slowing down the traffic on North Road (aka Highway 72).  Vehicles are still exceeding the 50 km/h and the 30 km/h speed limits, some by a considerable amount.  A number of strategies were discussed. Stay tuned.

Councillor Karen, Assistant CAO Gail, MLA Bruce Rowe and I at the AUMA convention reception,
at Edmonton City Hall!
Councillor Dave is behind the camera!
(photo via Facebook)

Overall, I believe that our attendance at the AUMA Convention was a great success.  In the months following we'll see if our suggestions and requests took root in the provincial  ministries.

Next year's AUMA Convention will happen in Calgary in the fall of 2015.