(File Photo/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Angela Brown

Time to talk

Town of Battleford looks to province to help reduce tax burden

Oct 10, 2023 | 3:27 PM

The Town of Battleford recently had an opportunity to discuss several issues that have been on their mind with the province.

At last week’s council meeting, Mayor Ames Leslie explained they got the chance to speak with Premier Scott Moe and some cabinet ministers. He noted the carbon tax was brought up.

“We definitely had a conversation around finding solutions to the carbon tax,” he said. “The carbon tax is hitting the town in big ways. We were grateful to get funding from the levels of government to put the new wastewater system in. But it increased our power bill for just that facility by $130,000 a year, of which a good portion of that is the carbon tax, now that the taxpayers will have to cover off as well, to pay every year.”

Leslie added the problem is about “taxation creating taxation, creating taxation.”

“I call out both the federal government and the provincial government to look at solutions, instead of taxing municipalities, who then therefore [are] having to create a tax to raise the funds to cover that off,” he said.

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Leslie noted the carbon tax also impacts the town’s facilities like the hockey rink, because an increase in taxation would have to be created for both the energy and the power of that building.

“[For] all our facilities, we are slowly converting to green initiatives to reduce our [carbon] footprint, but these facilities still use a lot of power and a lot of natural gas,” he said. “Both of those have a high percentage of carbon tax on it. And it’s on our taxpayers who have to cover off that bill.”

Leslie noted that the challenge is no different than the discussion the town has had with the provincial government about the PST on projects facing municipalities.

“You’re taxing us to have to create a tax to pay for it,” he explained. “It’s just unfortunate when our governments are picking on us, the municipalities, to continue to tax our people to cover off their taxation.”

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Angela.Brown@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @battlefordsnow