Airdrie mayor concerned over lack of reliable funding from provincial government

The City of Airdrie is asking residents to come forward and ask the provincial government for a different funding formula in a bid to meet the city's infrastructure, health-care and education needs.

"The idea is to elevate the conversation respectfully and to try and convince the government that they need to have more of an equitable funding formula," Airdrie Mayor Peter Brown said.

As an example, he said, health care is a huge concern in the city just north of Calgary.

"We don't have significant health care in Airdrie. We have a city of over 80,000 [residents]," he said.

Airdrie is equipped with a handful of beds and three chairs in its urgent care centre, which operates at all hours.

A patient needs to wait several hours at the Airdrie Community Health Centre before they're able to find a spot and get some help.

According to Brown, it takes a patient anywhere between six and eight hours to get in. He believes that it's time for a hospital to be constructed in the city so that patients can get the help they need instead of fretting over long wait times or looking for alternative options.

Airdrie has witnessed a sharp increase in population growth over the past five years — around 18 per cent, to be precise. But Brown believes the city isn't equipped to support its growing population without provincial support.

"Airdrie's always been about coming up with creative solutions to do things differently and make life better for everyone and hopefully save the system some money," Brown said.

"But we … want our provincial government to recognize the importance of financially supporting, in a fair and equitable manner, all communities across the province."

'We had to pay for most of it'

As an example, Brown said, the new overpass at 40th Avenue and Highway 2 proved to be rather expensive for Airdrie — the city had to cough up $53 million while the province covered $11 million.

"I think when this bridge is open in October, it's going to make a huge difference to economic development and safely flowing through our communities," Brown said. "It's going to be an amazing asset to the community, but we had to pay for most of it."

He noted the expenses for the Balzac overpass in Rocky View County were completely covered by the province, something that feels unfair to Brown.

"All I want from this whole process is for someone to say, you know, we're going to come up with some fair and equitable funding formula," he said.

Alberta's municipalities have relied on the provincial Municipal Sustainability Initiative (MSI) as one of their sources of funding for several years.

Under this scheme, every municipality in Alberta was entitled to receive a fixed portion of the funds, and each share was planned based on a formula of pools set by the province.

However, Alberta decided to eliminate the MSI this year with a new scheme — the Local Government Fiscal Framework, which will eventually determine each municipality's share based on provincial revenue developments.  

According to Brown, this isn't a fair scheme and will negatively affect several mid-sized cities, including Airdrie.

According to his estimates, funding has almost dropped to "below half" since 2010, when he was first elected.

"I don't want to be at odds with any provincial government," Brown said. "I want to work in partnership, and I think we've been an outstanding partner when you look at all of the things that we've tried to create."

When asked for a statement, a government spokesperson responded via email and said the provincial government has been in touch with Alberta Municipalities and Rural Municipalities regarding a "new funding framework" and "provided opportunities for input on the allocation formula and program design."

They further added that the new funding formula will be able to ensure that all municipalities are supported with "predictable and sustainable funding" which will allow "communities with the greatest needs" to receive adequate funding.

More detailed information on the funding formula is likely to be available later this year.

'We represent all communities'

According to Cathy Heron, president of Alberta Municipalities and mayor of St. Albert, a huge chunk of the funding gets allocated to Edmonton and Calgary. The remaining funds are then distributed among the 342 other municipalities across the province.

She said negotiations haven't been so successful so far between the urban and rural municipalities of Alberta because of a major disagreement on how funds should be allocated.

"They think, you know, the allocation should be heavily weighted on kilometres of road," Heron said. "For many reasons, we think it should be based largely on population … there's a whole gamut of things that [the] population will demand from your community."

She believes that Alberta's minister of municipal affairs, Ric McIver, will reach out soon to her and Paul McLaughlin, president of the Rural Municipalities of Alberta, to "kick-start some negotiations" and figure out a solution.

"We represent all communities," Heron said. "We're just trying to get [a] fair deal for every community, whether you're [a] town, village or city."