Trust. If you want to burrow down to the core of the proposed amalgamation of the town, county and village, that’s it.
Can a Southview resident trust that the tax dollars he would pay to a single, all-encompassing municipality, be used to fix the streets he travels daily?
And the same can be said for the farmer who owns a handful of quarter sections north of Jarvie. Can he trust his taxes will be used to keep his roads passable?
Really folks, that’s what all this amalgamation talk is going to boil down to in the end. Trust.
Lack of trust can be partially blamed for the failure of Spirit Centre funding plebiscite in the county and it’s why amalgamation will be dead in the water if ratepayers, no matter their address, don’t trust the process or feel they won’t have an equal voice.
Without a doubt it’s good news that all three municipalities have approved the next step in a potential amalgamation and will apply for the province’s Regional Collaboration Program grant.
If successful, and there’s no reason to see why they won’t be, they’ll get $250,000 to “examine possible governance options and strategic approaches to best provide an increased effective and efficient government to the region’s citizens.”
Now the words ‘simple logic,’ ‘reason’ and ‘municipal government’ don’t always go hand in hand, but it stands to reason that combining three municipalities into one will save money.
How much money? We don’t have a clue ... that’s what the study is for.
But logic dictates that if the three were to join we wouldn’t need three municipal government buildings, three CAOs, or even 19 councillors. That means less money spent on everything from salaries to heating bills.
And then there’s the possibility of additional grants from the province, or the extra weight a unified political voice will carry in attracting new significant businesses to the area.
Logic dictates that this union will produce savings and efficiencies — we’d be floored if the study came back and said it would cost more to run a single municipality.
We’re in favour of amalgamation, but the balance sheet isn’t going to get all of the ratepayers on board.
They need to know they’ll retain a degree of autonomy and have a voice in the spending of their tax dollars.
The benefits — beyond the bottonline — will need to be explained and, for lack of a better term, sold.
It all comes down to trust.