NDP Leader, Rachel Notley and Municipal Affairs Critic, Joe Ceci are criticizing a review of municipal assessments by the provincial government.
The Official Opposition held a press conference today to discuss the review.
“Rural municipalities would be required to raise property taxes by 200 percent, on average, in order to make up for the losses,” says Notley.
The former premier also said the 200 percent figure is just an average, and pointed out that Northern Sunrise County would be hit the hardest if a linear assessment review was done for oil and gas companies.
“Northern Sunrise County has said that this could lead to a 521 percent increase in taxes,” points out Notley.
“These changes mean that families in Northern Sunrise County could be forced to pay as much as $9,518.77 more, and that is just this year alone.”
Notley did say she understands that challenges that oil and gas companies are facing.
“I know and understand that our energy sector is struggling right now, but shifting these costs thoughtlessly onto rural Albertans is not the solution.”
Northern Sunrise County Reeve, Carolyn Kolebaba joined several municipal politicians for a protest at the legislature in July.
However, following a meeting with Finance Minister, Travis Toews and Municipal Affairs Minister, Tracy Allard, Kolebaba told the Trending 55 Newsroom that she was “80 percent more positive following that meeting”.
UCP MLAs Dan Williams, Todd Loewen, as well as Legislative Speaker, Nathan Cooper said at various times that the current assessment model has not been reviewed since 2005 and that no decisions have been made yet.
Ceci was critical of former Municipal Affairs Minister, Kaycee Madu.
“She (Allard) talked about being on a listening tour, and that is all good and well because the previous minister, frankly, did not listen to municipalities and did not have them at the table,” explains Ceci.
“He has made more enemies than friends throughout the municipalities amongst Alberta.”
At the conference, Notley was asked about her thoughts on the Alberta Federation of Labour producing a website that lists businesses that donated to the UCP election campaign and encouraging people to boycott those businesses.
The NDP leader did not endorse, or denounce, the AFL initiative while Premier Jason Kenney at a later announcement accused the opposition and the AFL of bullying.
– Kenny Trenton, Trending 55 Newsroom
