Year in Review: Lacombe County Reeve eager for economic opportunities ahead

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The reeve also shared her content with the reinstatement of provincial funding for rural economic development associations.

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The county has faced certain challenges throughout the year, however, with the continued unpaid property taxes by oil and gas companies, which Shepherd says has impacted their revenues in the millions. Introduced by the provincial government in 2019, a tax relief was provided to companies due to the struggling industry and the added strains resulting from the pandemic. While she says Lacombe County was not hit as hard as other municipalities, she did say some companies excluded from the program simply decided not to pay their taxes, causing them grief.

READ: Lacombe County concerned about unpaid oil and gas property taxes

With a provincial election looming, Shepherd expressed concern of added costs from a potential provincial police force. She says rural municipalities have already started to feel impacts of higher RCMP costs.

Lastly, although inflation has impacted the nation, particularly on fuel prices affecting profitability margins for rural farmers, Shepherd says the county has been able to keep property tax increases low while maintaining service levels, roads and bridges.

“It’s not lost on us that the economic engine for Lacombe County, from an employment perspective and from a work perspective, is agriculture,” she said.

READ: Lacombe County council approves 2022 final budgets & tax rates

On a brighter note, one thing Shepherd says she has learned throughout the year is how committed the County’s staff members are to get the job done through any obstacle, adding that she has not received many complaints from residents.

She says focusing on the good is the mindset that will help the County through any challenges ahead.

“There are lots of things that happening that we could look out there and say, ‘Oh boy, this is bad and that’s bad’ but we live in a wonderful part of the world when you consider what’s happening in places in the world such as Ukraine and other countries. We still have it pretty good and I think we need to look at the positives every day and be thankful for that,” said Shepherd.