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Kneehill County cancels nearly $5 million tax arrears for Trident Exploration

Kneehill County Council

Kneehill County council approved the cancellation of nearly $5 million of tax arrears and penalties on former Trident Exploration assets during the regular Tuesday, January 24 council meeting.
Property Tax officer Caroline Siverson presented the request to council and explained the arrears included levies from 2019 to 2022, as well as over $2.7 million in penalties, and some $8,500 in legal fees.
“Looking forward to 2023, there will remain assessments on assets that are under the Orphan Well Association; this will be around $250,000 on Trident assets,” Ms. Siverson explained during the meeting.
Prior to presenting the cancellation request, Ms. Siverson presented council with an overview of the process county administration takes regarding oil and gas industry tax arrears.
Ms. Siverson explained, once an oil and gas company declares bankruptcy, it goes into receivership and any valuable assets are sold; those assets which cannot be sold, called disclaimed assets, are then transferred to the Orphan Well Association (OWA) for reclamation. However, these disclaimed assets are still assessed by the province, leaving the municipality responsible for paying the provincial education requisition amount until such time as it is reclaimed.
The province does allow municipalities to apply for a tax credit equal to the education requisition on uncollectable oil and gas property taxes through the Provincial Education Requisition Credit (PERC) program. Ms. Siverson noted the county has so far received over $300,000 from the province through this program on other oil and gas properties.
The county currently has over $6 million in tax arrears owing across all properties for all years. Oil and gas tax arrears account for over 93 per cent of total tax arrears across all years, and 85 per cent of arrears in 2022; the total oil and gas tax arrears for 2022 total some $1.6 million.
The county has already cancelled some $4.18 million in tax arrears related to oil and gas companies since 2019.
Council unanimously approved the cancellation of $4,913,262.83 in tax arrears for Trident Exploration; this will reduce the total outstanding tax arrears to slightly more than $1.14 million.


Lions host convention at BCF

IMG 7463

More than 180 Lions from the Albertas C-2 District descended on the Badlands Community Facility for its eighth annual convention last weekend. The Drumheller Club teamed up with the Morrin Lions and the Calgary Eastport Lions Club to host the event. District C-2 encompasses much of Southern Alberta. Along with informative sessions and some presentations showcasing some of the valley’s local flair, they also held their annual elections and enjoyed fellowship. This is the first time the Lions have held their convention in the valley since the 1980s. Helping to organize the event are (l-r) Lions Clark Layden, Kat Mundorf, Kevin Mundorf and Debbie Ernest, along with Glen DeBoer of the Cheadle Lions.

Strathmore RCMP arrest two in stolen vehicle with drugs, weapons

Seized Exhibits 20230203

Strathmore RCMP General Duty and Crime Reduction Unit (CRU) members responded to a report of a suspicious vehicle in a field in rural Wheatland County which resulted in the arrest of two individuals and the seizure of a quantity of drugs and weapons.
On Friday, February 3 at approximately 9:30 a.m. members responded to a report of a suspicious vehicle in a field stuck in the snow in the area of Range Road 234 and Township Road 244 in rural Wheatland County, north of Highway 1.
Responding members checked the occupants who were wanted on Canada Wide Parole Warrants and determined the vehicle they were in was stolen. Both were arrested.
Upon a search, methamphetamine was found. A further search of the vehicle resulted in the seizure of 190 grams of suspected methamphetamine with a potential street value of $19,000; $22,275 in cash; a replica handgun; numerous edged and impact weapons; and government identification which did not belong to either subject.
Both males were transported to the Strathmore Detachment where they were held for bail hearings.
Christopher Lindgren, a 31 year old resident of Bezanson, a hamlet in northern Alberta approximately 35 kilometres east of Grande Prairie, and Nathan Piche, a 30 year old resident of Cold Lake in northern Alberta approximately 190 kilometres north of Lloydminster, were charged with Possession of a Controlled Substance for the Purpose of Trafficking; Possession of Items Used for Trafficking in a Controlled Substance; Possession of a Prohibited Weapon; 14 counts of Possession of a Weapon for a Dangerous Purpose; Obstructing a Peace Officer; and two counts of Unlawful Possession of Government Documents.
Nathan Piche was charged with additional offences of Possession of a Firearm Contrary to a Prohibition Order; Illegal Possession of Government Documents; and five other offences under the Traffic Safety Act relating to no insurance, registration infractions, unlawful use of license plate, and unauthorized operation of a motor vehicle.
Both men were remanded into custody on their new charges for future court appearances.
At the time of this encounter, both men were parolees who fled from a community residential facility which resulted in the issuance of Canada Wide Warrants.


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