BANFF – The Town of Banff looks set to spend $40,000 to hire a consultant to update an economic impact study to help boost lobbying efforts to the Alberta government for resort municipality status.
The governance and finance committee was keen in its unanimous decision to update data and benchmarks in a 2016 study that outlined the economic importance of Banff, Jasper and Canmore to local, provincial and federal coffers.
If the spend gets final approval at budget, and that is highly likely, the $40,000 would come from the non-tax supported economic recovery reserve, which currently has an undedicated balance of about $1.6 million.
Town of Banff officials say the plan is to update the charts, statistics and benchmarks for Banff only, but noted the municipality has reached out to Canmore and Jasper to gauge interest but have yet to hear back.
“As our community continues to recover from the impacts of COVID-19, an update of some of these key metrics would be very helpful to aid in our ongoing lobbying efforts,” said Chris Hughes, the director of corporate services for the Town of Banff during a Dec. 1 service review meeting.
“We know that our destinations are important for driving tourism both here in the Bow Valley, but also throughout the country, and that economic impact that benefits both the provincial and federal government is important.”
According to that study, the Rockies’ communities generated $1.09 billion in direct tourism expenditures, representing 15 per cent of total direct tourism expenditures in Alberta in 2012. Direct tourism spending for Alberta as a whole in 2012 totalled $7.27 billion.
Direct tourism spending in the three communities was in excess of $1.5 billion in 2015, according to the study. Tourism expenditures in Banff were $888.5 million, Jasper generated tourism spending of $318.4 million and $344.9 million was Canmore.
During the Alberta Municipalities’ meeting in November, Mayor Corrie DiManno had a chance to meet with Alberta Municipal Affairs Minister Ric McIver, which included a brief conversation about additional funding mechanisms for Banff.
She said it’s a similar story to the one over the past decades, noting she recently came across an article in The Banff Crag and Canyon in which Banff’s first mayor, Leslie Taylor, was advocating for funds from the provincial government to help run the town in the early 1990s.
“It’s been a very ongoing conversation, so through that one we had with Minister McIver, it was basically a meeting to get another meeting, which is positive,” she said.
Councillor Ted Christensen was skeptical that updating the data in the study would make any real difference in lobbying the provincial government for resort municipality status.
“I have the same nagging doubt that down the line that Minister McIver will shuffle out of his portfolio and we will be presenting to a new municipal minister, which has happened a number of times,” he said. “I think it’s important to be ready, but 40 grand is 40 grand.”
Coun. Christensen also questioned if the work could be done in-house rather than spending $40,000 on a consultant, but the municipality simply doesn’t have the capacity or expertise for this type of job.
“We don’t really have that skill set to provide economic analysis,” said Town Manager Kelly Gibson, adding an independent expert study would have more weight with higher levels of government.
If this gets final approval in the budget process, Mayor DiManno said she hopes Canmore and Jasper will join the work too.
“It really would make sense for them to hopefully buy in,” she said.
