AUMA President Barry Morishita (left) and Lethbridge Mayor Chris Spearman (right). (Lethbridge News Now)

By David Opinko

AUMA: Municipalities “frustrated” with provincial government

Feb 13, 2020 | 3:22 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – “I think we just we can’t absorb any further cutbacks, and when it comes to consultation about the impacts of operational cuts into the community, I don’t think we were adequately consulted on any of that. Our concern is that there hasn’t been adequate consultation on the new budget.”

Those were the words of Barry Morishita, the President of the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association (AUMA) and the Mayor of Brooks.

He believes that, in order for anyone to get ahead right now, the Government of Alberta needs to work harder to establish relationships with communities through better communication and stronger investments.

In a letter dated February 5 to Premier Jason Kenney, Morishita wrote that “municipalities were taken aback by the cumulative impacts of a wide array of cuts and changes to programs introduced in the fall budget.”

Back in October 2019, Lethbridge Mayor Chris Spearman outlined how budget cuts from the province were likely to impact the city going forward. More details here.

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The United Conservative Party previously said that cuts to areas like the Municipal Sustainability Initiative (MSI) were necessary because it would allow the province to pay off its debts sooner, which would allow for greater investments in the future without having to raise taxes.

Morishita, however, believes there needs to be a balancing act with careful consideration of what can be cut without harming those who need it.

“While it would be simple if you had money, you know, you take money put it into investments – we don’t have that luxury right now. We have to be thoughtful and innovative about it. I think that’s where the solutions lie.”

Ultimately, he tells LNN that investments into communities will create economic activities that will help the budget more than it will hurt.

“When it comes to things like the investments and the cuts in our MSI, which funds our infrastructure, we’re asking them to look at alternative ways of saving that money, revisiting the fact that that injection of infrastructure money actually is economic development as well the work needs to be done, it employs people in Alberta in our communities, and that that should be more kind of circular consideration about what that impact was.”

By having the two levels of government working more closely together, he says they will be able to come up with more innovative solutions for how to still invest in communities while being fiscally responsible.

Following meetings with over 175 municipal leaders at AUMA’s President’s Summit on Municipal Finances in January, members agreed that the following goals need to be achieved.

• Working towards the common goal of economic development
• Utilizing strategic, coordinated investments
• Showing mutual respect between local and provincial governments

Some of the areas Morishita hopes to discuss with the provincial government include:

• The impacts that budget cuts have on local governments, businesses, and residents
• Maintaining or growing investments into communities, particularly in regards to infrastructure
• Increasing the education tax requisition on property owners by approximately four per cent starting in 2020-2012 being “unacceptable” to municipalities and ratepayers

The next provincial budget is expected to be released on February 27, 2020.