Imagine owning a house with a leaky roof but not having the money to make the necessary repairs. The consequences of not doing the repairs would be disastrous.
Rural municipalities across Alberta are suffering from a similar situation.
Roads, bridges, water pipes, and sewer lines in many Alberta towns urgently need upgrades… but municipalities simply don’t have the money for repairs.
A recent report by Tantus Solutions Group found that Rural Municipalities of Alberta (RMA) members need $17 billion more than they currently receive from the province and federal government to save critical infrastructure from collapse.
Without immediate investment, the report predicts this deficit will grow to over $40 billion by 2028.
“This is a large-scale issue with very real risks to rural communities and the provincial economy, and solving it is going to take more than a few million dollars in additional grant funding,” RMA Director Amber Link said at RMA’s Fall Convention and Tradeshow in Edmonton earlier this month. “A new temporary funding stream is the only possible tool to address this initial $17 billion deficit.”
Rural municipalities, many of which struggle to get tax-evading oil and gas companies to pay their bills, need help not only collecting delinquent taxes but also urgently need help with their aging infrastructure.
Rural Alberta at a Disadvantage
Currently, there are two sources of funding for municipal infrastructure from the Alberta government and one from the federal government.
Under the Local Government Fiscal Framework, RMA’s 69 county and municipal district members will get $149 million in capital funding for 2024. The report notes that the province has reduced funding in recent years.
The second source of provincial funding is the Strategic Transportation Infrastructure Program (STIP), which was cancelled in 2013 and restarted in 2018. It’s a competitive application process that transportation officials admit is oversubscribed.
Federal funding comes from the Canada Community Building Fund (CCBF), which is transferred to the provinces and territories for distribution. A big problem is that this funding is doled out on a per-capita basis. The more people a community has, the more money it gets.
That puts rural Alberta at a serious disadvantage. In 2023, RMA members received $45 million of the $245 million in CCBF infrastructure funding sent to the province.
“This equates to just 17% of funding, despite the fact that 41% of Alberta’s public and private investment, and 26% of Alberta’s GDP is in rural Alberta,” according to the Tantus Solutions Group report.
The lack of funding can have a huge impact on rural Albertans. For example, Smith Bridge (banner photo above) in the Municipal District of Lesser Slave River is essential. It spans the Athabasca River, connects residents to fuel and food, and keeps the local economy rolling. The bridge has seen much better days.
Despite years of bandaid investments, the report notes that “the bridge remains in a precarious state” and that its closure would impose a 90-minute detour on residents, significantly disrupting daily life. Fixing the aging wartime bridge will cost an estimated $75 million.
This is just one of many stories around rural Alberta highlighting the need for more money to fix infrastructure before it fails. More funding for existing programs is a good start. So is forcing delinquent oil and gas companies to pay unpaid tax bills so that rural municipalities can pump the money into roads, bridges, pipes and sewers.
The Rural Municipalities of Alberta is an independent association established in 1909 to represent the interests of Alberta’s 69 rural counties and municipalities.
