BOYLE - While many were getting ready for a day off on Aug. 3, Village of Boyle councillors and administration were welcoming a special guest into their chambers.
Alberta Urban Municipalities Association (AUMA) president Barry Morishita stopped in the village as he made his way across the province to connect with member municipalities and bring some of their most pressing concerns to the forefront.
AUMA advocates for local government interests to all orders of government and represents all of Alberta’s urban municipalities, including cities, towns, villages and summer villages. For reference, Rural Municipalities of Alberta (RMA) is AUMA’s counterpart for counties and municipal districts.
Council was joined by interim CAO Robert Jorgensen, along with Athabasca County reeve Larry Armfelt and Town of Athabasca councillor David Pacholok.
“It was just an update on what AUMA is doing, how they’re working with the government and that type of thing” explained Jorgensen later, adding Morishita visited Athabasca last year as part of his annual tour.
Morishita spent two hours with the councilors and topics discussed included urban assessments and police funding, both of which are expected to negatively affect the village’s bottom line in coming years.
“We did talk about the assessments, and we should be going back to our MLAs explaining to the government that municipalities do have lots of assets, but not the large cash flow that MLAs think we have,” said Jorgensen. “We have tangible capital assets, but they’re all in the ground.”
Also on the agenda was the provincial government’s changes to the police funding model that were introduced late last year. Under the new model, rural municipalities and urban municipalities with populations under 5,000 must pay a portion of their policing costs, starting with 10 per cent in 2020 and increasing to 30 per cent in the next five years.
In other AUMA news, the organization confirmed last week its next conference will be held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting gathering restrictions.
The village has also requested an appointment with the minister of municipal affairs, as time is allotted to municipalities to speak directly to the minister during these conferences.
Council hopes to bring up the issues that result from the population boom the area sees during every summer, as well as the municipal stimulus program that was announced in late July.
Chris Zwick,TownandCountryToday.com
