Alberta’s Municipal Affairs Minister Dan Williams is open to looking at new ways for municipalities to pay for their own infrastructure, including borrowing through municipal bonds, said Mayor Glenn Andersen.
ST. PAUL – Alberta’s Municipal Affairs Minister Dan Williams is open to looking at new ways for municipalities to pay for their own infrastructure, including borrowing through municipal bonds, said Mayor Glenn Andersen.
On July 20, Williams was at the County of St. Paul council chambers late in the afternoon as part of his provincial tour, where he met with municipal representatives to discuss their concerns. Representatives from the County of St. Paul and the Town of St. Paul were in attendance.
Andersen said among the biggest issues he raised to the minister was, “sustainable, predictable funding [to municipalities] year after year.”
According to Andersen, Williams said Alberta has a huge infrastructure deficit but is open to discussing how municipalities might raise money in other ways, such as through municipal bonds.
“He’s just open to anything innovative that the municipalities can do to keep their municipality functioning, because it’s quite a challenge these days,” Andersen said.
What is a municipal bond?
A municipal bond would let a local government borrow money directly from investors to pay for large projects and repay it over time with interest, instead of relying on grants or property taxes.
Williams publicly floated the idea of municipal bonds before, including on June 23, when he announced the formation of a special Minister’s Council to examine alternative financing for municipalities, including private-sector partnerships and models used in other provinces. The council is due to report by the end of the year.
“We also talked about the current grant fundings and how you can make them more flexible to adapt to other aspects of municipal infrastructure,” said Andersen, explaining the Town wants stability with grants it already receives each year, and less restrictions regarding how the money can be spent.
Flood damage and aging water lines
County of St. Paul Reeve Glen Ockerman told Lakeland This Week that one of the main issues he expressed was flooding and damage to roads due to flooding. He asked if the provincial government had emergency funds to help municipalities deal with the aftermath of a challenging spring and summer season.
Earlier this spring, the County experienced flooding when overland water closed roads across parts of the municipality. Crews had to barricade impassable stretches of road until water receded.
Water and sewer lines
Aging water and sewer lines in the County’s hamlets were also among Ockerman’s concerns.
Over the past decade, the County used the province’s Water for Life program to switch communities like Ashmont and Mallaig from poor-quality groundwater to treated water, piped from Edmonton through the Highway 28/63 Water Commission.
Now, the County is seeking help from the province to replace the distribution and collection mains inside those hamlets, said Ockerman.
“These water lines [and] sewer lines are getting old,” and replacing them, “is so expensive,” said the reeve.
According to information from the County, the County spent over $30,000 on a single Mallaig water main break in 2023, and over $40,000 to replace 150-metres of water main in Ashmont in 2019.
Gas
“Another big one we talked about was our service providers, like gas and power,” said Ockerman, explaining the County struggles to attract larger employers when the natural gas and power needed to run a business are not in place.
But extending those services raises the question of who covers the cost. “Some big players can’t come down because . . . there’s no gas there, or power,” he said.
Ockerman and Andersen thanked Williams for making the drive to discuss municipal concerns.
“He was very attentive . . . I was happy they [Williams and his staff] wanted to hear from us,” said Ockerman.