Emily Plihal
Local Journalism
Initiative Reporter
Multiple organizations in the Smoky River Region are facing major fiscal challenges with one of their main funders potentially pulling from a municipal partnership, due to large companies not paying municipal taxes and leaving the municipality short on cash to meet future obligations.
Earlier this summer, Municipal District of Smoky River No. 130 sent a formal notice to other municipalities in the region providing a required six-month notice of potential withdrawal from shared services agreement.
The MD has faced high financial stress from uncollected taxes from oil and gas companies, after the province created policies to allow the companies to forgo paying municipal taxes.
A formal letter of withdrawal was sent to Falher, Donnelly, Girouxville, and McLennan, indicating that if finances do not improve the MD will have to withdraw from Smoky River Regional Health Care Professionals Attraction and Retention Committee, Local Libraries, Falher Regional Pool, Family and Community Support Services, Smoky River Transportation, and Smoky River Economic Development.
Smoky River Family and Community Support Services’ Vice Chair Avis Gagne and Director Crystal Tremblay say this will seriously affect their program, potentially meaning eliminating all community programming and reducing staff to only one individual.
“The MD’s letter outlined a number of programs that they have joint funding arrangements with other municipalities or, in the case of FCSS, with the provincial government,” explains Gagne.
“The MD due to nonpayment of linear taxation, primarily involving petroleum companies that have not been able to pay, are seeing shortfall of about $7.5 million dollars. They were reviewing their budget to see what they may have to reduce in their next fiscal year, in order to maintain basic services.”
Gagne says the issue FCSS is facing with the MD potentially pulling out of the municipal agreement, is that the FCSS funding is an 80/20 funding split between municipalities and the province.
“Twenty percent of the funding provided is from the partnering municipalities and 80 percent is from the provincial government,” explains Gagne.
The MD’s portion is around $20,000, so the provincial portion would be $80,000. Meaning the program will lose $100,000 if the Municipal District is at a point where they can no longer be a part of that arrangement. That is more than half of the total funding FCSS receives, that would devastate the program.”
Tremblay notes that the total Smoky River FCSS budget is roughly $200,000, meaning if the MD would have to pull because of budgetary constraints, they would lose half of their operational funding. Gagne says if this were to happen, they’d have to let go of all their programming staff and only retain their director to operate a bare bones operation.
“Without community programmers, we would no longer have roots of empathy, home support program, any of our community events, youth trips, PD Days, Ladies’ Nights, Home Safe, the babysitter course, all that would be gone,” explains Tremblay.
“We would lose many of our preventative social services, ability to reduce isolation will all be affected because I won’t be able to get out of the office to do that.”
Tremblay says home supports one of their most used programs, offering light housekeeping, vacuuming, sweeping, making beds, cleaning bathrooms, and some meal prep.
She says her staff have often put a roast in for clients, or they have a client who can’t cut vegetables, so they cut them for him and put in water for him so he can eat veggies through the week.
Many of the individuals only see the FCSS Home Support staff in the day, also adding companionship to the lists of benefits and reducing the feeling of isolation.
“From last year’s stats over 50 percent of users were from the MD,” says Tremblay.
“A lot of our home support clients are in the MD isolated on farms, and it may be their only contact with humans. Losing this service will put a strain on the medical system, strain on our seniors housing and on families that have come to rely on having these supports.”
She adds that if the MD has to pull their funding from FCSS, it will also affect who will be able to receive the supports in the region.
“If Smoky River FCSS doesn’t get funding from the MD, what does that mean for the MD residents?” Tremblay questions.
“I can’t expect McLennan, Falher, Donnelly, Girouxville to pick up and pay for MD residents, because their portion should be going to their municipal residents.”
Gagne says they’ve had an informal discussion that included one of the councillors from the MD, with an indicator that none of this is a done deal.
She says they understand the MD has financial constraints because of their loss of linear taxes, and she feels the pressure should be put back where it belongs.
“I think we need to send this back to where it belongs, and that’s solely with the province,” says Gagne.
“The provincial policy has been that any company, including oil and gas, which is what we’re talking about here, who fails to pay their linear tax, gets to keep on operating without any kind of ramifications, even though they’re not paying their linear tax or property tax. Until a property changes hands. In this case the company has gone bankrupt, so it no longer applies.
Because it’s gone to receiver, it no longer belongs to the bankrupt company. The province needs to take responsibility for that and pay those back taxes. There are communities that are affected throughout the province to the tune of $250 million.”
Gagne says it would be very difficult for FCSS and the other affected organizations to expect the smaller municipalities in the MD to contribute more to the programs.
She says the province has to change their legislation to ensure corporations are paying their taxes to the municipalities they are operate in.
She says it’s not practical to allow corporations to not pay taxes, when all home and landowners are expected to pay, regardless of any financial hardships that may arise.
“Being realistic, if any of these programs cease to exist, even for a short time, they’re likely gone,” Gagne concludes.
“They won’t be brought back. Once that door is open and closed, it’ll likely remain closed.”
Gagne and Tremblay encourage everyone who is concerned with the potential loss of any of the FCSS programs, or the other cuts that may happen to the affected organizations to contact their MLA to express those concerns.