The fledgling Athabasca Ratepayersí Association (ARPA) questioned the Town of Athabascaís financial health last week, and suggested that the best medicine might be shutting down town operations altogether, through municipal dissolution.
ìIs the Town of Athabasca financially viable long-term?î ARPA executive member Ernest Aleixandre asked. ìUnless the town wins Lotto 6/49, our concern is that we may not be sustainable for the long term.î
Dissolution was one of the suggestions ARPA had when they visited town council last week. ARPA met on Thursday at the Athabasca Regional Multiplex for a meeting of their own.
Aleixandre said that he is concerned about the financial position of the town, despite glowing reports from auditors and town council regarding their cash flow.
ìThe town is operating on a day-to-day basis,î Aleixandre said. ìBut what about the $30 million in infrastructure upgrades?î
He said he was concerned with how the town expected to pay for those upgrades, especially since they were brought to the townís attention in 2008.
ìThe Municipal Corporate Review (MCR) makes reference to the townís lack of finances for infrastructure maintenance and upgrades Ö but does not expose how deep the problem may be,î Aleixandre said. ìWe are concerned about the long-term viability of the Town due to lack of revenue and reserves, which limit the Townís ability to take on large projects.î
Dissolution of the town, according to the ratepayers, would solve most of the townís woes over failing infrastructure. The town would essentially hand over the keys to the Town of Athabasca to the Alberta government.
Based on previous examples of dissolution, the provincial government would develop a long-term solution for administration and government, likely involving a neighbouring municipality, such as Athabasca County.
ìThis is something we want to pursue further,î Aleixandre said.
Town councillors, however, said dissolution is a radical and unnecessary step.
ìI don't think they understand what is required in dissolution,î councillor Richard Verhaeghe said. ìAs our auditors said, we are in fantastic financial position. We are not even close to being bankrupt.
ìWe have aging infrastructure, but every single town in Alberta has aging infrastructure,î he said. ìThe fact that we have aging infrastructure is nothing new, and we don't have to replace everything, we jut have to fix it as it breaks ó which is the norm for most municipalities.î
Councillor Colleen Powell agrees with Verhaeghe.
ìIf you go through Ö and look at the financial state of most villages (that dissolved), you will find that many, if not all, were bankrupt,î she explained. ìWe are nowhere near that. We are in a good financial state.î
Powell said she thought the ratepayers needed to be more educated about dissolution.
ìDissolution means that you lock the town, and give the keys over to someone who does not know anything about urban municipalities,î she said. ìDissolution means no one in this town has a say in how that is going to pan out.
ìThat is why I am saying amalgamation is better. We are a smaller community looking to join a larger one, and we have to be very careful.î
Aleixandre said dissolution, amalgamation and increased cooperation were just options to be discussed.
ìWe said increase collaboration, revenue sharing and dissolution,î he said. ìWe donít pretend to know which is the right answer.
ìWe are just asking the town to look at it because although financial statements may say we are good for day-to-day operations, we are facing tens of millions of dollars in capital investments that need to be done to infrastructure.î
Aleixandre wanted to make ARPA members aware that 78 per cent of the townís tax base is residential.
ìOur lack of a non-residential tax base causes the burden to pay for infrastructure to fall on seniors, families and everyday people trying to make it in todayís tough economic climate,î he said. ìWith the rising cost of living, any property tax increase can be extremely difficult for people on low or fixed incomes to absorb, and the town lacks a large reserve to accommodate emergencies.î
The problem Aleixandre sees with the townís finances is that there is no long-term planning, or way to pay for the utility upgrades.
ìMany families, businesses and public sectors including the Town of Athabasca are facing lean economic times,î Aleixandre continued. ìIn light of this, we request that the town examine spending and find efficiencies to reduce spending rather than raising taxes.î
ARPA also put the relationship between the town and county under a microscope.
ìThe county is controlling the town. The county is calling all the shots,î said Axel Winter, another ARPA executive member.
Executive member Nicole Adams pointed out that if the town wants to do anything, the county needs to be involved. One example she gave was the county committing to help the town build a new library, only if itís located at the Multiplex.
ìThe town has multiple cooperative partnerships with the county, such as the Regional Water Services, the Multiplex Society and the library, to name a few,î Aleixandre said. ìIn the future, it looks as though we will have further cooperative partnerships.î
Transparency and disclosure was brought up by Winter.
ìARPA requests a bylaw or amendment Ö that would require individual votes by council to be recorded in the minutes,î he said. ìSuch a bylaw or amendment would ensure that residents are fully informed on the acts of elected officials governing the town and able to vote accordingly.î
Currently, unless council asks for a recorded vote, the minutes just indicate if a motion was carried or defeated.
ARPA has also requested detailed information on the salary, severance pay (if any), vacation payout, previous expense claims and any contracts regarding former town CAO Doug Topinka, as well as a detailed report as to why 2013 budget deliberations were held in-camera.
ìWhen the mayor asked for a motion to go in-camera, two councillors voted against it,î Aleixandre said. ìThis raised a few red flags.î
Winter wants to know why part of the deliberations were not open to the public.
ìWe were disappointed to see council go in-camera immediately during budget deliberations,î he said. ìTwo councillors voting against going in-camera for budget deliberations leaves people with the impression that there were potentially issues that could have been discussed publicly.î
The meeting held last Thursday at the Athabasca Regional Multiplex had more than 20 people in attendance, and was to give the association an idea of where members would like to see the association in the future.
