At Garmin Canada's event to promote the upcoming expansion of its headquarters and doubling of its workforce in Cochrane earlier this week, Minister of Municipal Affairs Rebecca Schulz credited a provincial government tool for helping move forward the tech company's vision.
Community Revitalization Levies (CRLs) are a provincial mechanism that allow municipalities to use the provincial portion of their tax revenues from assessment increases in a particular area for municipal projects. While not a necessarily new tool, the CRL program was revised last year, with applications reopening in 2022.
So far, only a handful of municipalities in Alberta have utilized the levy, one of which is Cochrane, whose council approved its CRL way back in 2012. The other three municipalities benefiting from the levy at the moment are are Calgary, Edmonton, and Airdrie, whose council only just recently approved their CRL as a funding mechanism to spur private-sector investment in that city's downtown revitalization.
When introducing Airdrie's CRL last month, Schulz described the levy as a tool to help communities grow by dedicating future property tax revenue to help pay for critical infrastructure and "spur growth and development in brown-field areas or areas where development is lagging behind."
That's similar to what happened with Garmin, which has been housed in Cochrane since 2018 on previously undeveloped lands. One of the activities CRLs can help pay for, according to the provincial government's website, is cleaning up environmental damage in areas where development is sorely needed.
On Monday, Schulz argued the CRL has helped increase Cochrane's taxable assessment growth by a staggering 2,638 per cent and was a factor in Garmin's ability to pursue the tech company's expansion plans in Cochrane. She called Monday's announcement the sign of future investment to come.
Future planned projects within Cochrane's CRL area include a Canadian Pacific Railway pedestrian crosswalk, an arts centre, parking structure, and library.
"This $140 million in increased property values will go a long way to attract future investment and jobs into this vibrant and growing mid-sized city," the minister said in a statement.
