CANMORE – Nothing was specifically earmarked for Canmore in the provincial budget, but several factors could be a starting point in potentially improving aspects in the community.
The Alberta government announced it was freezing the education tax for 2023, providing more than $300 million in affordable housing across the province and bringing forward significant funding for increasing medical services.
Canmore Mayor Sean Krausert said three things stood out at a high level with more stable funding being presented, indexing of revenue to see more funding go to municipalities and a one-year pause on increasing the education tax requisition.
“A big discussion at the provincial level is the funding formula. It’s really difficult to find a formula that will work well for everyone, so I’m glad there’ll be more time to do that and allow more discussion for a funding formula,” he said of the education tax requisition.
“With Canmore being a high assessment value community, we’ve always been a net provider for education compared to what we receive for education dollars. We tend to fund our community and then some.”
The education tax requisition was frozen at $2.5 billion for 2023 after originally being set to increase by 1.5 per cent. However, it’s set to increase by $100 million each year in 2024 and 2025.
Though the province has hit the pause on education tax increases, due to growth in the equalized assessment, the Town will see an increase of three per cent for an extra $815,800 in 2023. The Town will collect $24.74 million for the province.
The education tax requisition has continued to be a priority for municipalities and the province. Alberta Municipalities had advocated for the freeze.
Alberta Municipalities praised the decision, but pushed for the freeze to continue rather than link future education tax increases to changes in Alberta’s population, plus inflation.
The advocacy organization had also lobbied for the reindexing of funding to municipalities to an even 1:1 ratio, meaning a community will receive more funding.
“It’s more of a partnership and collaborative relationship than it was previously when you’d only get a portion of the growth,” said Krausert.
The lack of ambulances in the community has led to multiple public meetings at Canmore council, with senior Alberta Health Services EMS leadership speaking with council on initiatives and changes implemented to improve service.
While more resources have been dedicated to fixing ambulance coverage and improving response times, Canmore Fire-Rescue continues to be relied upon to respond to medical calls when ambulances are called outside of the community.
On Friday (March 3), Canmore Fire-Rescue transported a patient to the hospital on the request of medical direction due to delayed ambulance response, according to Canmore Fire Fighters Association.
The province further allocated $342.5 million for affordable housing and rent supplements, with $34.3 million dedicated to growing affordable housing in priority areas via the Affordable Housing Partnership Program.
Krausert said the additional funding for both areas is a “step in the right direction” but there remains more work ahead.
“Canmore often doesn’t fit in those frameworks because the type of housing we need is a different nature and scale than we’d see in other like-size communities because of the high cost of living,” he said.
The budget will also be the final year of the Municipal Sustainability Initiative (MSI), which will be replaced by the Local Government Fiscal Framework with $722 million in 2024-25 followed by $813 million in 2025-26.
The MSI program has been used to help municipalities with capital projects such as Elevation Place, artsPlace, the gymnastics centre and connecting the Legacy Trail outside of Canmore to Banff National Park. From 2007-17, Canmore received about $40 million through the fund.
The Town will receive $2.62 million in 2023 in MSI capital funding, which is the same amount it received in 2022. The operating funding will grow to $401,226 from $200,600. Information on specific allocations in the LGFF is not yet available.
Roughly $180 million was set aside to refurbish and enhance outdoor recreation areas on Crown lands, while $17.1 million is for refurbishing and building recreation trails and $9.6 million to increase enforcement and education on Crown lands.
The Film and Television Tax Credit will see an increase of $100 million over the next three years. Canmore was a high profile location for filming HBO’s The Last of Us in 2021.
