Athabasca County Reeve Doris Splane said she was “encouraged” after a discussion with Alberta Transportation on the new Athabasca bridge.
County officials met with Alberta Transportation during the Alberta Association of Municipal Districts and Counties fall convention, which took place Nov. 14-17 in Edmonton. Splane said the county brought forward their concerns on the new bridge’s progress.
“We showed some of our concerns, and the ongoing one is the bridge,” Splane said.
She said county council was “encouraged” by the discussion, although she could not give further details as far as the timeline of the bridge, which council had raised as an issue.
“Certainly, it’s in design process and we were just asking when it was coming. Unfortunately, I can’t give some of the dates and information that were part of our conversation,” Splane said. “I’m sure when they’re ready, they will make their announcement.”
On March 16, the province committed to replacing the bridge. Since then, the province has been in dialogue with the Town of Athabasca and Athabasca County over several aspects of the project, including utilities and a sidewalk. No completion date for the project has yet been announced. Reeve responds to tax refund
Splane said a tax relief announcement from the government during the convention was an “encouraging sign,” but it would be of minor impact to Athabasca County.
During a keynote address Nov. 15, Minister of Municipal Affairs Shaye Anderson announced that counties would be given some respite from uncollectable taxes on oil and gas properties.
He unveiled the Provincial Education Requisition Credit (PERC) program, which would help municipalities that have struggled to collect education taxes on these abandoned facilities since oil prices fell in 2015. The facilities are taxed until an abandoned status is on record of the Alberta Energy Regulator, but the process can take several years.
“I heard loud and clear that many municipalities were struggling with tax recovery challenges,” Anderson said.
The move will provide municipalities with financial assistance to make up for the lost taxes. It is retroactive to 2015 and will be in effect until 2019.
“It certainly made us have more confidence in government,” Splane said. “There are some municipalities that will be greatly impacted by this new program.”
However, Athabasca County is not one of the municipalities that will get much funding from this, Splane said. She estimated it would amount to less than $10,000 in revenue for Athabasca County.
“It’s not significant here in our municipality, but for many of them it’s very good,” Splane said.
Woodlands County, which surrounds the Town of Whitecourt, sees a lot of oil and gas activity within its boundaries, and will be credited $200,000 for last year and a similar amount again for 2017.
Overall, Splane said the conference was a positive experience.
“It was good to meet with the new councillors and just network and see where everyone was at,” Splane said.
