WESTLOCK – Westlock County councillors are expected to pass a new fees and rates bylaw next week, a document that will capture everything the municipality charges for.
At their Nov. 30 meeting, councillors unanimously passed first reading of Bylaw 27-2021, while CAO Kay Spiess said in a follow-up interview, she expects second and third readings will go ahead at council’s Dec. 14 meeting.
First brought up by administration at the municipality’s Nov. 16 governance and priorities meeting, the bylaw contains 18 pages that cover all the county’s departments — the schedule lists everything from the price of a wastewater disposal fee licence, to a litre of aviation fuel and the cost of county map.
“It’s great what you’ve put together here. I think it’s great for our residents,” said reeve Christine Wiese.
In her briefing to council, Spiess said the schedule is intended to be fluid allowing for adjustments to occur on a need-be basis or annually during the budget cycle as it’s “something we should always be working on and advancing.”
“This is a very basic bylaw and very consistent with other municipalities. We looked at seven or eight other municipalities when we built this bylaw so there was quite a bit of research that went into it and it’s pretty straightforward,” Spiess told council.
Added Coun. Jared Stitsen: “We’re charging all these fees already; we’re not changing anything and just bringing them together into one package.”
At the GPC meeting, Coun. Stuart Fox-Robinson requested administration prepare a comparative analysis report to see how the county stacks up versus its neighbours on fees and rates. After some discussion Nov. 30, administration said it should have that report in front of council by the spring.
“I think the comparative analysis will be really good for council, really good for administration and it will be really good for residents to see what’s going on out there. Some may be higher, some may be lower, but I think it’s going to be important to communicate that to our residents,” said Fox-Robinson.
“I happen to know that some of the fees we’re charging are a lot less that other municipalities … not all of them. But that comparative analysis when presented will show a very clear picture of where we may need some adjustments.”
