Communities throughout Alberta are feeling a pinch to their budget as the province rolls back the payments for its Grants in Place of Taxes Program.
The Grants in place of Taxes Programs is a system where the province will provide municipalities a grant rather than paying taxes for a property in the community. This year the province reduced that payment by about 50 per cent.
Director of Corporate Services, Mauricio Reyes, tells the Mail there are five properties in the Town of Drumheller that are owned by the province, that are eligible for the program. These include the provincial court house, the provincial building, a property owned by Fish and Wildlife, and property owned by Alberta Transportation.
“The courthouse has the highest assessment,” said Reyes.
He says normally they would collect about $61,000 from the program, but that has been reduced.
“The province is only paying 50 per cent of what we would normally expect to collect,” he explains. “We knew that would likely be the case, so in our budget, we have an allowance to be able to cover that loss.”
Going forward, the town will have to deal with further reductions in funding from the province, including the Municipal Sustainability Initiative Grants.
“Not this year, but we are going to see action in the next couple of years, that is when we are going to see reductions. That will be 2022 and 2023,” he said. “It will be quite a steep reduction. We are going to be adjusting our 10-year capital plan accordingly.”
