The Town and MD of Bonnyville are describing the restructuring of the ID 349 agreement as fair for all involved.
“It's groundbreaking, it's exciting, and it's very different than the original concept. In everyone's opinion, it's fair,” said Town of Bonnyville Mayor Gene Sobolewski.
On Nov. 17, Alberta Municipal Affairs released details outlining a new funding formula for the ID 349 agreement, sharing the Cold Lake Air Weapons Range (CLAWR) funding with local municipalities.
Under the new format, the Town of Bonnyville will receive $4-million annually.
“This is groundbreaking in Alberta. I don't believe there is another arrangement like this. I'm very excited to be participating in it. I'm looking forward to bigger and better things working together with our regional and Indigenous partners,” Sobolewski continued.
City of Cold Lake Mayor Craig Copeland expressed his disappointment over the announced the changes to the agreement.
“We have gone from $25 to $26-million per year to $16-million,” Copeland said.
In January 2012, the Province of Alberta entered into an agreement with local municipalities regarding the reallocation of municipal taxes generated from assessment on the CLAWR and the area north of the range.
Over the next five years, the City of Cold Lake received the bulk of the funding from the agreement, but it expired on Jan. 1, 2017.
After reviewing the funding formula, Alberta Municipal Affairs decided to reformat ID 349.
Each municipality involved was asked to submit proposals to municipal affairs about the future of the ID 349 funding.
Copeland said the government had originally shown interest in the city's proposal, of an 85 to 15 per cent split. The city would continue to receive the majority of the funding, but a chunk would be designated for the Town of Bonnyville and the Village of Glendon.
“We would have been going down from the $25 to $26-million we're receiving every year to about $23-million,” explained Copeland. “We had no idea they were going to change it so dramatically.”
The new agreement, allocates $1-million per year to the MD of Bonnyville for the maintenance of the La Corey resource road. In addition, they will receive $1.2-million over the span of 15 years to cover the debenture costs of applying asphalt overlay to the road.
“That's the primary route in and out of the air weapons range, and 3,000 vehicles a day travel it. It's vital that it stays safe and drivable for all of the traffic out there,” said MD Reeve Greg Sawchuk. “The undertaking for rebuilding that road is quite a bit. It's nice to have that funding in place long-term, for the next five years anyway, to get that job done.”
Also included, is funding for the ID 349 Intermunicipal Fund. Approximately $6-million will benefit the region as a whole, with a 20 per cent holdback.
“That's supposed to be used by the region. This is a lead-in to the Intermunicipal Collaboration Framework. What they're trying to do is put funding in place, so we can work together with our neighbours,” said Sawchuk.
The committee, made-up of local municipalities and Indigenous communities, will determine how to use the funding to better the region as a whole.
“Regional projects could include anything dealing with healthcare, recreation, or infrastructure such as water and sewer. It's very exciting,” Sobolewski explained.
The Village of Glendon is also benefitting from the new agreement. They will be receiving about $500,000 annually.
“We're very grateful for this funding opportunity to provide us with resources to put toward our critical infrastructure funding needs,” said Glendon Mayor Laura Papirny.
Sawchuk is looking forward to the opportunity to work with local municipalities on growing the region.
“I think it's very important. We can't look after our own little kingdoms and be separate. We have to look at the whole area as a region and start to consider bigger projects. There are lots of things that can be done for the betterment of the whole area.”
