While reaction to the NDP’s first provincial budget is mixed in the public domain, elected community leaders are praising it for ensuring stable funding for schools and municipalities.
For the Town of Cochrane, that stability comes in funding increases that combine for nearly $325,000 in three areas, including the Municipal Sustainability Initiative (MSI), operating project funding, and Family and Community Support Services (FCSS).
Mayor Ivan Brooker said the additional funding is a major win for the community.
“It means we don’t have to revaluate our funding strategy for municipal projects,” he said.
The MSI funding, which increased 2.9 per cent goes toward the town’s 10-year capital plan. Over the next three years it is dedicated to the aquatic and curling centres.
Brooker was also pleased to see the $149,485 boost to FCSS funding – its first increase in nearly a decade.
He said that funding could not have come at a better time considering the increased need for such services in the face of the depressed economy.
The town is especially excited about the fact construction of the Cochrane Highway 1A/22 intersection has been included on the province’s Unfunded Capital Projects list.
“This is a huge step forward for Cochrane,” said Brooker. “It means that the province has heard our concerns. While this critical intersection is on the unfunded list, it is a priority in their capital plan.”
The mayor said work is moving forward to get the design work completed so the project can hopefully be included in the next fiscal budget.
Although the budget comes with a lot of benefits to the town as a corporation,
Brooker did express concerns about municipalities being included in the province’s new carbon tax. Edmonton and Calgary are arguing towns and cities should be exempt as to not place a double tax burden on citizens. Brooker said the town is not sure yet how much the carbon tax will affect its operating budget.
From a schools perspective, Rocky View Schools trustee Colleen Munro, who represents rural Cochrane and Bearspaw, said the government has ensured the district has the funds to manage growth.
Calling Rocky View the fastest growing school district in the province – with a growth rate of 4.6 per cent representing an increase of 974 students last year – Munro said maintaining funding was vital to education.
“It will mean students won’t see any impact to classrooms,” Munro said.
It will also mean the division will have the resources to help manage the growth of multiple new schools set to open in the next couple of years, including two in Cochrane.
“Given the tough economic situation the province is in, this is as good a budget as the school board could have asked for,” Munro said.
NDP MLA Cam Westhead said many of the comments he has received from the public regarding the budget have been positive.
His constituents are pleased to see the government maintain health and education funding and also investing in finishing flood repairs from the 2013 flood, he said.
“The people elected us on a platform to ensure the most vital public services would be available when we needed them,” he said.
He added the $34-billion infrastructure plan would help people return to work.
Many critics of the budget have pointed to the government’s deficit spending plan and criticized the province for not doing more to trim down the bureaucracy.
Westhead said the government did take steps to freeze both managerial and political salaries but felt layoffs were not the answer.
“We had some tough choices to make … you do not help unemployment by laying off more people,” he said.
As far as wage reductions, Westhead said legal precedent would likely put the government in a position of paying substantial legal costs with no net gain.
Westhead added the reduction of the small business tax to two per cent from three per cent would hopefully help spark growth in the job market.
The province had originally hoped to reduce the deficit by next year, projecting it would be $5.4 billion in 2016-17 and $4.4 billion in 2017-18.
Instead, Finance Minister Joe Ceci said the 2015-16 deficit has increased by $197 million to $6.3 billion and will continue to climb in the following years.
The NDP government’s pledge to balance the books by the next election in 2019 is no longer possible, Ceci said.
The provincial government expects to receive $1.4 billion in oil and gas related revenues this year – compared to $2.7 billion last year and $8.9 billion the year before.
The budget is not expected to return to balance until 2024.
