OLDS — Coun. Heather Ryan says the Parkland Library System (PRLS) wants to use population estimates she believes are inaccurate and could cost the community an extra $5,000 for people who don’t even live in the community.
Didsbury Coun. Bill Windsor echos her concern.
Ryan sits on the PRLS executive committee, representing the Town of Olds and Zone 9 of PRLS, which encompasses Olds, Didsbury, Carstairs and Mountain View County.
PRLS calculates how much money each member municipality must provide on a per capita (per person) basis in order to operate the service. PRLS officials have indicated a desire to use Treasury Board estimates.
Olds, Didsbury and Carstairs councils have passed motions urging the region to use population figures that have been used by Municipal Affairs instead.
The motion also calls on the PRLS to “open up” its agreement with member municipalities to change a clause in the deal in order to make that happen.
That change would require PRLS to use the same population figures for per capita requisitions that “Municipal Affairs uses to provide municipalities with grant funding.”
Ryan and Windsor say so far, Olds, Didsbury and Carstairs have passed the motion.
They say Mountain View County is expected to pass the motion in August and Cremona council is expected to do so when they meet next in September.
Ryan says PRLS wants to use the Treasury Board’s estimated population figures for its calculations, rather than those supplied by Municipal Affairs.
During a recent Town of Olds council meeting, Ryan said according to the 2016 census, Olds’ population is 9,184, whereas the Treasury Board estimate for 2022 was 9,753, a difference of 569.
Ryan said if the Treasury Board estimate is used, that would “cost us $4,864.95 for people that we don’t even have in our town.”
She said even if the federal census for 2021 is utilized, it pegged Olds’ population at 9,209, still well below the Treasury Board estimate.
On top of that, Ryan and Bill said for 2023, PRLS is also proposing to increase its requisition from $8.55 a person to $8.75 per person, which Ryan said would cost the Town of Olds $4,978.75.
“Now it hasn’t been approved. They’re just using that as a starting point,” Ryan said during an interview.
“My concern is the fact that we’re paying for individuals that don’t necessarily live here.”
Ryan and Windsor say the issue of using Treasury Board population figures as well as the wording of the membership agreement was raised during a PRLS board meeting earlier this spring.
“This is a concern that we have. And it’s not just coming from myself, but also from every Parkland Regional Library representative in our zone,” Ryan said.
In a memo to Olds council, town administrative staff quoted the Alberta government’s website on the matter: “the Municipal Affairs population list has been discontinued and will be replaced by population estimates from Treasury Board and Finance in the future.”
However, staff noted that on the other hand, Municipal Affairs also said on its website that “per capita grant funding delivered by Municipal Affairs will continue to be based on the 2019 Municipal Affairs Population List until 2021 federal census results are available.”
It was also noted that PRLS obtained a legal opinion which, town staff said, indicated that "use of Treasury Board figures was in keeping with the agreement.”
Ryan and Bill said after the spring PRLS board meeting, Zone 9 reps met and decided they were concerned about what use of the new numbers could mean for their communities.
They decided that a collective approach would make their case stronger than concerns raised by individual councillors or communities.
“We feel for clarity and transparency, the agreement needs to be clear that whatever population figure Municipal Affairs is using to provide municipalities with grant funding should be the same figure PRLS uses for requisitions, regardless of where that figure comes from (the 2016 federal census, a Treasury Board estimate, the 2021 federal census or some combination … the point is it needs to be the same number),” Ryan wrote in an email.
Windsor and Ryan say assuming that Cremona and Mountain View County councils also pass the motion, the next step would be to meet with administrative staff and figure out where to go from there.
But generally, the idea would be to persuade other Zone 9 communities to do the same so that collectively, they have the clout to meet with PRLS reps to open up and rewrite the clause regarding requisitions.
Their understanding is they’ll need at least a two-thirds majority of Zone 9 councils to do so.
Windsor said he began digging into the whole issue because “I’m a stickler for process and I’m a stickler for detail.”
He was asked what he thinks the chances are of getting the clause in the agreement changed the way he’d like to see it.
“I think the chances are probably very good; it’s just going to be a long, drawn-out process,” Windsor said.
“I’m hoping that we can have it in place for the 2024 budget. I’m pretty sure we’re not going to make it for 2023,” he added.