Black Diamond homeowners may have to foot the bill for property taxes on two independent seniors’ complexes previously covered by the Province.
Black Diamond Town council decided at its April 15 meeting to add about $37,000 to its 2015 budget after learning the proposed provincial budget would require the Town to pay property taxes for Glen Mead Park apartments.
A final decision will be made on the provincial budget following the May 5 election.
“From our understanding, until the budget is passed this does not come into effect,” said Black Diamond Mayor Sharlene Brown. “If the provincial budget passes it’s going to have an impact on our budget process.”
The Town is using last year’s $37,000 property tax bill for the Foothills Foundation’s independent seniors’ housing in the community as a guide for what it could expect to pay.
Brown said the best interest of the Town is to budget for the $37,000 in the interim, and she suggested administration write a letter voicing council’s concern over the Province’s proposed budget item to not pay municipal taxes on properties it has covered in the past.
“There’s been an ongoing conversation between municipalities and the Province in the province of Alberta that you should not balance the budget on the backs of municipalities,” she said. “That’s a conversation that’s been going on a very long time.”
Brown said she feels those previous conversations are being disregarded.
“The concern I have is if you say you are not going to balance the budget on the backs of municipalities and you turn around and send out a letter and say, ‘Sorry, you lost $37,000,’” she said. “The $37,000 could be one of our staff people, it could be potholes, it could be arenas, it could be something we could be using for our communities. $37,000 is a lot of money to us.”
At one point during the council meeting, Brown addressed the public and suggested they take action.
“There is three candidates running in our riding,” she told those in attendance. “I’m sure you can pose the question on how they stand on this issue as individuals.”
Coun. Jackie Stickel said more citizens should be made aware of this item in the proposed budget.
“I almost think we have to put this out to the public as well so that concerned taxpayers are aware and they can support it too,” she said.
Joanne Irwin, the Town’s chief administrative officer, said the independent seniors complexes are on property owned by the Province and that in previous years the arrangement was the Province provided Black Diamond with a grant in lieu of the property taxes.
Irwin said she is concerned that the Province is cutting expenses by putting more financial responsibility on municipalities.
“This is something that’s going to hurt Black Diamond significantly because of the amount of taxes we are either going to have to make adjustments for or we would not have the same amount of revenue we would have had if the Province is not going to share its taxes,” she said.
Barry Williamson, Turner Valley’s chief administrative officer, said if the budget is passed Turner Valley would pay about $3,100 for its Foothills Foundation property based on last year’s numbers.
