Alberta pronounces new municipal infrastructure grant

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Alberta’s municipalities can apply for a share of a brand new $20-million provincial infrastructure grant, however Municipal Affairs Minister Ric McIver says extra funding is required.

McIver informed reporters Tuesday the province goals to distribute $20 million in grant funding annually for the following three years, and the funding could be put towards roads, sewer methods and different essential infrastructure.

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McIver mentioned this system is supposed to assist mid-sized cities with populations underneath 200,000 tackle infrastructure points attributable to important inhabitants development, although a few of the annual funding will probably be put aside for municipalities with fewer than 10,000 individuals.

“Typically the water remedy plant doesn’t have sufficient capability … typically there may be a highway or an intersection that must be improved to ensure that a brand new enterprise or a brand new job alternative to occur, and this, what we’re asserting as we speak, is meant to assist with that,” McIver mentioned.

“We acknowledge that the (program) is not going to be a silver bullet or an answer to all of the infrastructure issues, however it’s certainly, we imagine, a step in the proper course.”

Between July of 2023 and July of this 12 months Alberta’s inhabitants grew by about 200,000 individuals, or 4.4 per cent, which was the very best development fee of any province.

Over the identical interval in 2022 and 2023, Alberta’s inhabitants grew by 3.9 per cent.

The brand new grant will possible be oversubscribed, McIver mentioned, given the restricted funding pot and the widespread want for added infrastructure funding throughout the province.

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McIver mentioned he himself hoped there can be extra funding obtainable, “however typically whenever you go to (the) Treasury Board as a minister, you don’t get every part you ask for.”

Alberta Municipalities estimates giant infrastructure deficit

Alberta Municipalities, the group that represents mid-sized cities, estimates there’s a $30-billion infrastructure deficit throughout the province.

Tyler Gandam, president of Alberta Municipalities and mayor of Wetaskiwin, Alta., agreed the brand new program is a step in the proper course.

Gandam mentioned the funding pot is a “far cry away” from addressing municipal infrastructure wants, however he’s hoping the federal government will see the affect that even $20 million can have and enhance funding in future years.

“Development doesn’t pay for itself when the municipality is front-ending a bunch of cash for infrastructure, particularly the underground infrastructure,” he mentioned.

Gandam pointed to town of St. Albert, Alta., northwest of Edmonton, which is at present dealing with a virtually $70-million invoice for a significant stormwater and wastewater capability improve.

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The town, which has seen modest inhabitants development in comparison with different mid-sized cities within the province, paused approvals on most improvement within the increasing residential space within the northeast in 2022 as a result of it was decided the prevailing sewer system’s capability reached a breaking level.

If town desires improvement within the space to renew, it might want to enhance the sewer system’s capability. Nevertheless, town might want to tackle debt in an effort to fund the undertaking, and a $70-million debenture would imply town would have restricted assets obtainable for different essential tasks, akin to a brand new hearth station and firefighters to workers it.

St. Albert Mayor Cathy Heron was unavailable for an interview.

‘It is a starting’: Cochrane, Airdrie mayors appreciative, longing for extra

Jeff Genung, the mayor of Cochrane, Alta., which has seen its inhabitants practically double since 2016, informed The Canadian Press he was “thrilled” with the Alberta authorities’s new grant.

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“The province is recognizing the expansion pressures that mid-size cities are dealing with, and Cochrane falls proper into the center of that,” mentioned Genung, whose city is simply northwest of Calgary. “The tempo of the expansion that we’re experiencing is forcing us to should take care of issues quicker than what we’re outfitted for and even have the organizational capability to take care of.”

Genung mentioned one of many first complaints new Cochrane residents have is about site visitors, which he mentioned was a results of the city’s fast inhabitants development resulting in extra automobiles than ever travelling on its roads.

However Genung mentioned the city’s water, wastewater and even leisure infrastructure is being overwhelmed, which he hopes this new grant will assist tackle.

“It is a starting, and if we work collectively and show to the province by way of the utilization of this new grant, my ideas and my objectives and my desires are that this grows into one thing larger,” he mentioned.

Peter Brown, the mayor of Airdrie, Alta., can be supportive of the brand new program, which he mentioned is coming at a time when his metropolis north of Calgary is eyeing sewer capability and new water strains.

“Proper now, the No. 1 challenge for us is a sewer pipe for certain,” mentioned Brown, including that leisure facilities are additionally in determined want.

Brown mentioned that whereas further funding for this system can be useful, he appreciates that the province is recognizing the problem.

“Let’s be honest, the province has been calling individuals from all around the world to maneuver right here as a result of, in my view, clearly Alberta is the place to be and lots of people are recognizing that, however that comes with big calls for on our current infrastructure.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first printed Oct. 22, 2024.

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