The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) stands by its recent report stating the MD of Bighorn has been fiscally unsustainable for “quite some time.”
Statistics in the Alberta Municipal Spending Report, 2015 published in September called the MD Alberta’s second least fiscally sustainable municipality between 2003-13.
“Some municipalities might express their displeasure for this report, but I think that speaks for the needs to report and why municipal spending is like this,” said Amber Ruddy, CFIB’s director of provincial affairs.
The CFIB report analyzes Alberta’s municipal operating spending for populations of 1,000 or more.
In it, the report states the MD only saw a three per cent population growth over that period with a 316 per cent change in real operating spending. The report says in 2013 – the latest data was collected – the MD’s real operating spending per capita growth is $7,072.
The report added that between 2012-13, the MD performed the worst in the province with a 171 per cent increase in real operating spending per capita. The CFIB statistics were taken from Municipal Affairs, said Ruddy.
The MD did not accept the calculations made by the CFIB, saying it fails to recognize changes in service levels, and indeed the introduction of new services during the same 10-year period.
When that $7,072 is multiplied by the MD’s 2013 population of 1,341, the municipality would have spent close to $9.5 million in real operating spending, said Chief Administrative Officer Martin Buckley in a press release.
“The 2013 audited financial statements show the MD’s expenditures for that year, exclusive of flood recovery-related expenses and amortization, to be only $4,732,967, or $3,529 per capita,” said Buckley.
Al Kemmere, president of the Alberta Association of Municipal Districts and Counties, said this isn’t the first report the CFIB has released on this topic.
Kemmere reiterated the MD’s statement and said the report doesn’t take into account cost inflation kicks in at a lot of different levels of services right across the province.
“The unfortunate part is the metric they (CFIB) use to compare municipalities and rate municipalities is possibility not always the most fair when you look at using population increases as their measure,” Kemmere said.
“I think we’re all going to do our best to rationalize our own costs and what Bighorn is trying to do is not ignoring it because it is a report that comes from an outside source. We just have to be able to defend it and most of the municipalities are able to defend it just by the increased costs; just something as simple as labour costs.”
Over the past 10 years, water systems have been added in the hamlets of Dead Man’s Flats, Exshaw and in the Harvie Heights commercial sector.
“The MD’s service levels, which are not all population-based, have increased dramatically since 2003, which is a main reason for increases over the 10-year period,” Buckley added.
