Local politicians say while the axe didn't come down as hard as it might have with the arrival of the 2013 Alberta budget, municipal programs will still feel the pinch.
Innisfail Mayor Jim Romane said the budget provides some good news for taxpayers.
“We haven't seen any real negative effect,” he said, adding additional impacts could surface in the days to come. “All the programs we were depending on for capital programs came through.”
Alberta is facing a $6.3-billion deficit for the 2013-14 fiscal year.
Innisfail officials will lose out on $7,000 with the disappearance of the Summer Temporary Employment Program (STEP), which subsidized the cost of hiring students over the summer.
Romane said he was pleased with the school requisition, which saw a small reduction. More importantly, Municipal Sustainability Initiative (MSI) funding remained virtually untouched. Innisfail will use dollars from the program to fund the $2.1-million second leg of Main Street renovations.
Penhold Mayor Dennis Cooper said he was glad to see the government chose to borrow money to keep programs and services largely intact.
An increase of 6.4 per cent to the town's MSI funding will more than offset the loss of $7,830 in STEP funding, $1,500 in museum assistance funding and $1,000 in Community Spirit Program funding.
“Because our town grew with people and our MSI went up that will offset the STEP funding,” he said.
Since $21 million of housing stock was added last year the town's live assessment increased – leading to a $69,316 school requisition jump. This 12.5 per cent increase was $21,675 more than forecast in the 2013 Penhold budget.
“We had more growth than we anticipated,” he said.
Kerry Towle, Innisfail/Sylvan Lake MLA said despite MSI funding stability, less visible aspects of the 2013 budget will ultimately hit residents.
“There's ripple down effects in this budget,” she said. “I think we're going to see a greater impact three months from now when all the facts of the budget are known.”
Towle likened the government's recent pull-back on funding for the South Red Deer Regional Wastewater Commission to the increase to the education portion of property taxes in last year's budget.
“There's one thing a person has and that's their word,” she said. “They had an agreement with Alberta Transportation at a 90/10 funding, and now that funding model has been changed because of the budget.”
Many seniors will be hurt by the budget, with the Property Tax Assistance Program being replaced by the Property Tax Deferral Program, she charged.
“We know already that funding amount for the Property Tax Deferral Program was reduced by 60 per cent – that will kick 7,000 seniors off the program,” she said. “For some seniors that could be the difference between staying in their home and living independently or having to go into a lodge or finding an alternative home life.”
