As the mayor of the fastest growing municipality in Alberta, Cochrane Mayor Jeff Genung said he was overall pleased with the UCP government's 2023 budget and how it will impact Cochranites.
“The focus on health care and education was needed,” Genung said in an interview with The Eagle last week. “And the financial and fiscal prudence was good to see.”
Over the last 15 years, municipalities received provincial funding through the Municipal Sustainability Initiative (MSI), but the provincial government aims to shift that funding over to the new Local Government Fiscal Framework (LGFF).
“With that, the province has been asking municipalities to come back with a funding formula to determine how municipalities would receive funding,” Genung explained. “With our negotiations with the province and feedback they’ve received, they pushed that back a year, and they’re sticking to the MSI for another year and the LGFF will come into play next year.”
A point of concern that Genung sees with the LGFF for Cochrane and similar municipalities is the possibility the new framework may provide less funding than the previous set-up.
“We just can’t afford that,” Genung said. “We are pretty vocal in the fact that we are the fastest growing community in Alberta, and it’s ironically the mid sized cities generally seeing less funding, so it’s good the province acknowledged that.”
Genung said that there will be a year of a transition fund so municipalities will not see a decrease in funding, and it will also be tied to provincial revenues through the Provincial Index Factor.
“If the province is doing well, three years ago, municipalities would see an increase in the base funding too,” Genung said. “They’re predicting an increase of 12.6 per cent, based on three years prior.”
In terms of funding for Cochrane, outside of looking into new programs and grant options that provide more funding opportunities, Genung said the MSI operating budget has doubled.
“That would see Cochrane receive an extra $225,000, and there’s a couple adjustments they’ve made and we’ll see some funding increase through that directly,” he said. “They did increase the library funding and I was told our library should see their grant from the province increase by around five per cent.”
At a briefing and speech regarding the provincial budget in Airdrie on March 3, Genung said he was pleased to hear an announcement by Finance Minister Travis Toews that he plans to table legislation that would prevent future provincial governments from running a deficit budget.
“I just think that’s such great news from someone who has to manage the economy, and the ups and downs of a municipality,” Genung said. “Hearing that from the province, I think it’s the right thing to do and I’m glad they’re on that path.”
Another topic regarding the budget that is proving to be a pressure point for growth in the community that Genung noticed is schools.
“I did take the opportunity this morning to share that with minister Toews,” Genung said. “They did announce...new school builds across the province, but none of them in the Rocky View area, other than a Francophone school in Airdrie.
“As a community that is growing the fastest, and an economic engine of the province, we’re going to need provincial attention in the form of funding to schools, libraries, and other infrastructure pieces outside of bridges, roads and highways.”
