The mayor of Ponoka has threatened the town will withhold taxes if the provincial government doesn’t fund a local recreation centre.
Mayor Rick Bonnett wants $4.5 million to help fund a new fieldhouse and aquatics facility at the town’s rec centre.
If the town doesn’t get the funding, he said it will withhold $2.1 million in education property taxes.
“We’ve been dealing with this for 13 years,” Bonnett said. “This is why Ponoka’s frustration is there.”
The province told Ponoka to use current infrastructure funding from the Municipal Sustainability Initiative.
The town claims it equates to $1.1 million per year, which the town uses for basic infrastructure, but believes there is a major imbalance in the treatment of urban and rural municipalities.
Bonnett said the town has been left in the dark about grants for too long.
“They overlook you and go to the Red Deers, the Blackfalds, the bigger centres.”
“Fifty-three per cent of the Alberta’s population lives in both Edmonton and Calgary, and that’s fine,” said Councillor Kevin Ferguson. “But the question I came away with: what about the other 47 per cent?”
In a statement, the provincial government said the federal government has provided Alberta with a stream of funding, called the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program, to pay for 40 per cent of the cost of recreation facilities.
Another 33 per cent comes from the province, and the rest from municipalities or other sources.
The province said “using MSI as the provincial portion allows for these important recreation centres and other facilities, like the one the Town of Ponoka is proposing, to be built.”
The town said it may be a losing battle, but remains hopeful.
The rec centre expansion is estimated to cost between $15 million and $18 million.
With files from Tyson Fedor
