Alberta pledges to spend $60M on municipalities over 3 years

Alberta is spending $60 million on municipalities over the next three years.

The cash comes from a grant program announced in the province's last budget to help with the pressures of growing populations.

But some of Alberta's fastest growing cities are not eligible, and the president of the organization that represents the province's rural municipalities says much more is needed.

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Alberta Municipal Affairs Minister Ric McIver on Tuesday announced the $60 million is being made available to cities with populations sizes between 10,000 and 200,000.

"It's $20 million a year. I am sure it will be oversubscribed probably by a lot," McIver said at a media conference in Lethbridge.

Eligible cities can apply for the cash starting Tuesday.

"No part of us thinks this will be the answer to all our problems, (but) it's a step in the right direction," McIver said.

Paul McLauchlin, the president of the Rural Municipalities of Alberta (RMA), agrees that the money is nowhere close to addressing the funding deficits faced by his member communities.

"It would be disingenuous to say that's enough money for all the ills that we have," he told CTV News Edmonton on Tuesday.

Recent reports from the RMA found:

• Bridge repairs need about $2.29 billion dollars;
• Utilities are running $2.96 billion into the red; and
• Roads are under funded by nearly $12 billion.

"$1 million per kilometre of road, a bridge easily costs $1 million. It's not hard to start looking at $200-million to $300-million a year," McLauchlin said.

Edmonton Mayor Amarjeet Sohi, whose city is not eligible for the grants, says it needs help, too, as it has grown 13 per cent over the last five years.

"It should not be at the cost of other municipalities. I think the province needs to step up for all of us," Sohi told media on Tuesday.

"Whenever we have growth pressures, that means we have to expand services, which means we have to raise revenues, which means property taxes."

Political scientist Lori Williams, who is based at Calgary's Mount Royal University, believes the Lethbridge-based announcement is less about funding cities and more about securing United Conservative Party (UCP) support ahead of a by-election.

"It's one thing to be out campaigning, to support a particular candidate in an upcoming by-election, it's quite another to use government taxpayer dollars and target it specifically in one area," said Williams, adding it looks to her that the UCP government "is setting up a more antagonistic relationship with the cities of Calgary and Edmonton."

Premier Danielle Smith has until January to call a vote in the riding of Lethbridge-West, which has been vacant since July 1, when NDP MLA and former cabinet minister Shannon Phillips stepped down.