Funding Alberta’s Municipalities (Part 1)

As Alberta’s population continues to go up, the quality of life in many of its towns and cities is going down. Many municipalities struggle to build and maintain adequate roads and sidewalks and cope with the increased pressure that larger populations put on garbage collection, recycling, snow removal and policing; let alone ensure that our leisure and sports facilities remain up to par. Glenn Taylor says that the problem is not just a shortage of funds. He believes that the way in which core infrastructure and services are funded, as well as the diminished role that our locally elected officials play in the decision making process, are all part of the problem.. Mr. Taylor argues that Alberta needs to shorten the distance between the taxpayer and the spender. He wants municipalities to keep the education portion of our property tax, and the province to provide full funding for education from general revenue. He says that changes to the Municipal Government Act are needed so that Alberta municipalities have more dependable and predictable sources of funding in future. Speaker: Glenn Taylor Glenn Taylor is the leader of the Alberta Party. He settled in Hinton, Alberta in 1986, and is a three-term Mayor of the town. Glenn has served as Vice-President of the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association chairing its Municipal Governance Committee. He has also served as Board Chair of the Grande Alberta Economic Region as well as the Rural Alberta Development Fund. He is a past director of the Alberta Utilities Consumer Advocate Advisory Board and the Foothills Research Institute.