Municipal governments across Alberta, including Penhold, are facing significant challenges for funding to pay for local services their residents want and need.
For example:
- Just like your household, inflation is making things more expensive for our town.
- Over the last 15 years, the Alberta government has lowered how much money it gives to municipal governments to help pay for local programs and community infrastructure like roads, water and sewer systems, and recreation facilities.
- The availability of grants, from both the federal and provincial governments, to help with major project costs has decreased significantly.
- Costs for municipalities are rising for various reasons: major inflation (equipment, trucks, construction costs), increased responsibilities transferred or downloaded from provincial/federal levels, and reduced provincial funding/ grants.
These changes are making it more costly for the Town to provide the services you rely on. In addition to these factors, the Alberta government is also increasing its property tax rates for education and policing, which the Town of Penhold collects on their behalf.
When municipalities face higher costs + lower funding + restrictions on revenue tools, the hard choices are: cut services or raise property taxes/fees.
The non-partisan association, Alberta Municipalities, which represents the province’s summer villages, villages, towns, cities and specialized municipalities, has conducted considerable research around property taxes and community funding. They are sharing their findings through an information project called Property Taxes Reimagined. It explains what is happening and raises questions about whether Alberta needs to change how local services are funded.
Click here to learn more about AB MUNIS PROPERTY TAXES REIMAGINED project