WESTLOCK – Westlock County Division 5 incumbent Isaac Skuban will seek re-election this fall and bluntly stated that holding the line on taxes is at the top of his to-do list if he gets a four-year mandate from ratepayers.
The 23-year-old Skuban, who won his seat in a September 2019 byelection that saw him receive 101 votes (38 per cent) to best three other contenders, says he’s “loved serving as a councillor” the past 24 months and being a voice for residents who’ve been accepting of his “hard-nose approach to county politics and just kind of saying it as it is.” Skuban is the second county incumbent to seek re-election joining Division 2 Coun. and reeve Jared Stitsen.
Division 4 Coun. Brian Coleman will not be running this fall, while Division 6 is vacant following the resignation of Fred Slobodian last November. Incumbents Lou Hall (Division 3), Victor Julyan (Division 1) and Dennis Primeau (Division 7) have not indicated if they’ll seek re-election — nominations officially close Sept. 20, while the election is slated for Oct. 18.
Looking forward Skuban said taxes are the No. 1 issue for residents and it’s a fight he’ll continue if elected. Aside from serving on council, Skuban has one year left at the University of Alberta where he’s studying economics and political science.
“What I hear from residents is that taxes are too high and that we need to find ways to solve that,” said Skuban Aug. 27. “My job as a councillor is to find those solutions. When you’re raising taxes by four or five per cent every year that’s just not sustainable and it doesn’t attract development. There are lot of problems facing Westlock County and I like to think that I’m a problem solver. I’m a listener and I like to stay humble and take whatever Westlock County residents want and bring it to council.”
The county’s financial woes are no secret as the municipality has hundreds of kilometres of gravel roads to maintain and lacks massive industrial infrastructure and the accompanying taxes that come with it. And while the county needs to continue beating the economic development drum to add to the tax base, Skuban said the municipality’s budget also needs to be tightened.
“For Westlock County we really need to, it is a slow process, but need to change how we view development and get ahead of the curve rather than being reactive. That’s got to be a change in our mindset — Westlock County needs to work towards being more pro-development,” he continued.
“The hard part is that we have to make cuts to our budget. That’s the one area of contention I’ve had with council over the past two years — cuts to budget versus the tax rate. And that’s going to be a very prominent issue going forward.
“I’ve found that sometimes in government people don’t want things to change — there’s a lot of status quo, maintaining things and there’s not a lot of incentive to change and grow because that requires work. If it was easy, everyone would do it.”
In his division there’s been some real positives on the development front, from Dom Kriangkum’s Pine Valley Gym and the associated developments which Skuban called “beautiful and well-run facilities that we can build off” to the Tawatinaw ski hill and the organic compost facility at the landfill — a project initiated by a Division 5 farmer.
“There are some really good projects coming down the line. We’re working towards more development, which we’re starting to see slowly but surely,” he continued.
“But the county needs to start getting on board and being on the ball on projects like those and work to bring in more industry.”
