If it seems like dollars are in the news a lot lately, it’s likely because they are.
The thing is, money makes the world go ‘round; in our Valley and everywhere else.
Trouble is, as the saying goes, “you can’t have everything.” That’s something our provincial government, which has discovered, again, that bolting your budget to something fluid like the price of oil is bad budgeting, needs to realize.
Last week in this space, we encouraged Canmore council in particular to give some thought to the hard-working taxpayer out there. When we see big ticket items like a convention centre, a national mountain centre, redevelopment of day care land, the former pool, an arts centre, a domed rec centre, etc. looming, we get a little nervous. Citizens can almost feel their wallet/purse/billfold/pockets lightening.
In the end, all of these items need to be paid for and there’s little chance none of them will require taxpayer dollars.
And you can only squeeze taxpayers so hard. Take, for example, upcoming fee hikes for Parks Canada. Being that Parks was already hit hard with job cuts in an effort to help out with the federal government’s $5.2 billion in cost savings measures, it came as no surprise that some fees will be on the rise to the tune of about two per cent.
Whether this hurts tourism in Banff and the national parks remains to be seen. You have to think that at some point fees will hit a tipping point where visitors will no longer pay them and travel elsewhere – rubber tire traffic in particular. In the Bow Valley, national park campgrounds, etc. aren’t the only option as provincial parks lie within an easy drive.
Then again, when we have a provincial government that bases its budget on a magic number related to oil revenue, then pulls back when it discovers oil isn’t fluorishing as predicted, we wonder if increased fees for provincial services aren’t also in the offing.
It’s time our provincial leaders found a more suitable method of budgeting than picking a dollar per barrel oil price and hoping for the best… There’s a large gap between estimating an $800 million surplus and settling on a deficit of $3 billion when oil pricing isn’t as expected.
Imagine Banff or Canmore municipal governments working in the same manner by figuring tourism should definitely rise in a given year by five per cent, then adjusting budgets accordingly due to massive inputs of spending at The Fenlands and Elevation Place (should it ever actually open).
Councils could then sound magnanimous in setting a municipal tax hike of zero, then clawing back when, for some reason, said tourists didn’t flock to the Valley.
Speaking of the Province’s up and down budget numbers, we assume a newly-estimated $3 billion deficit means taxpayers won’t be on the hook for an arena project in Edmonton.
Reports have billionaire Oilers owner Daryl Katz and Edmonton’s council approaching agreement (again) on a $450 million downtown arena project. That’s great news for Oilers fans and corporations with the wherewithal to shell out for luxury boxes.
But, being that there remains a $110 million shortfall in the situation and, being that somehow the Province is being identified as the provider of those funds, this would be a good time for Premier Alison Redford to stick to her guns in saying her government won’t spend public money on an arena.
Should the Province kick in $100 million for an Edmonton arena, you just know the Calgary Flames would soon be at Redford’s door, cap in hand, for the same kind of assistance with a Saddledome replacement project.
In the end, fiscal responsibility is key.
