(The Canadian Press)

By Troy Gillard

As the province eyes oil & gas tax breaks…

Taxpayers Federation urges local counties to cut spending

Aug 19, 2020 | 2:58 PM

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation says it is calling on municipalities, including Red Deer County and Lacombe County, to cut spending instead of threatening tax hikes.

“Counties need to cut spending before crying poor and threatening struggling families and businesses with massive tax hikes,” said Franco Terrazzano, the CTF’s Alberta Director. “If both counties brought their spending in line with their peers then they wouldn’t need to be grasping for more tax dollars.”

The CTF cited recent comments by Red Deer County Mayor Jim Wood that changes to oil and gas assessment could result in a nearly 30 per cent tax increase for other properties, while Lacombe County Reeve Paula Law estimates this could increase the residential mill rate by up to 39 per cent. The changes could cost Red Deer County and Lacombe County $4 million and $2 million respectively.

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The CTF is calling on both counties to cut spending to reduce the overall tax burden. They claim Red Deer County and Lacombe County would spend $12.7 million and $13.7 million less respectively if their spending were in line with the average of Alberta’s mid-sized municipalities, according to Alberta government data published in the CTF’s 2020 Municipal Spending Report.

The CTF is also calling on local MLAs to push both counties to cut spending.

“The United Conservatives were given an overwhelming mandate to stick up for taxpayers and help Albertans get back to work and local MLAs needs to make sure the big spending county councillors tighten their belts like everyone else,” said Terrazzano.

The CTF produced a report highlight overspending in a number of counties that would be impacted by assessment changes.