ATHABASCA – Oh, what a year it has been for Athabasca County. From the announcement that they had secured an $16 million dollar grant to expand the water pipeline to Island Lake to a bylaw that created tax breaks for small businesses, Reeve Tracy Holland said ratepayers had a lot of be proud of as we all look towards 2025.
“Council should be proud of the many accomplishments, we’ve seen so many to this date,” said Holland in a Dec. 20 interview.
It can be tough to nail it down to a shortlist — Holland initially listed 15 or so things she felt council and administration had done well on — but her top five are in: the Island Lake waterline, property tax breaks for small businesses, repairs for bridge infrastructure, the fire services review and paid on-call firefighters, and enhancements to the county’s mowing program.
“Part of our job is to make life better for our residents, so it feels good to be able to move things like that forward,” said Holland.
Waterline extension
A June 20 announcement capped off months of work by the Athabasca Regional Water Commission, alongside summer villages, the Town of Athabasca, and Athabasca County.
Thanks to a Water for Life grant that will cover 90 per cent of the project fees, county residents in the northwest portion of the county, alongside summer village residents, will have access to potable water without having to make the 20 minute drive into town.
The extension will run under the Town of Athabasca to Range Road 232 before continuing to Baptiste Lake, where a reservoir will be built for commercial water trucks. From there, a personal truck-fill station will be constructed at Island Lake, similar to the ones in Grassland and Colinton.
“This significant milestone underscores the collaborative spirit and proactive approach taken by county council, the water commission, and the summer village regional partners in championing the region’s water infrastructure development,” said then-Reeve Brian Hall June 20.
A helping hand
Back in 2023, Athabasca County started looking at ways to help small businesses when it came time for their tax bill. Councillors unanimously voted to pass the bylaw Nov. 14, 2023, and it took effect during 2024’s tax season.
The program, which exempts local businesses with less than 25 employees from 25 per cent of their property taxes, was heralded by councillors as a success as soon as they passed it, but it didn’t receive the buy-in they were expecting from business owners. Holland is hoping business owners avail themselves of the tax savings when the taxman comes calling in 2025.
“It gives small businesses an opportunity for growth within the county, and it supports our economic development; that’s a complete given,” said Holland. “We’re just trying to make it easier for people to do business here.”
It’s about time
One major project councillors took a step forward on in 2024 was the replacement of the Colinton bridge, which has been a point of consternation — and alarm — for county residents south of the town for years.
This summer, councillors approved the funding for the initial engineering costs out of pocket, after the funding was declined for Strategic Transportation Infrastructure Program (STIP) in back-to-back years.
“There were so many factors that got us to this point, so to finally moving forward is just awesome. It’s been something that has been talked about amongst the community for a very long time,” said Holland.
The county is planning to spend $2.2 million on the bridge in 2025, which would cover its replacement, in addition to a further $1.9 million on the Al-Pac bridge, and $1.8 million on repairs and rehabilitation for other bridges in the county.
“I really, truly, believe that the residents of this community and county have been patient and that is not going to last forever,” said Kapitaniuk, a Colinton resident, during a summer meeting.
Changing climates, changing services
Athabasca County approved its new Fire Services Bylaw at the very end of 2023, but much of the work was completed in 2024. In a province where wildfires have become an inevitability each spring and summer, the county’s emergency services have been working to be as prepared as they can when calls come in.
“Things are changing in our climate and we’re seeing these disasters coming more and more,” said Holland. “To be as prepared as much as we can we need to find the people that are able to facilitate what needs to happen for these responses.”
In 2025, the county has budgeted $4.2 million to fleet replacement, and multiple fire trucks were purchased in 2024 two fire apparatuses that are expected to arrive late last year.
“I’ve experienced the importance of fire services in a community, so anything we can do to try and make things better for response time, for actual attack, all those things will benefit the community,” said Holland.
A big change in 2025 will be the arrival of the county’s first-ever paid firefighters — while details are still sparse, the county is hoping the dedicated staff will help reduce response times for serious calls.
