The County of Northern Lights is among the local municipalities voicing concerns over the province’s plan to reduce property taxes for oil and gas companies.
Reeve Terry Ungarian says they were “caught off guard” by how big a reduction companies could get and a lack of consultation with municipal governments.
“It is worrisome that it has the potential if it goes through and passes through cabinet, it’s going to have severe implications on our revenue. Our only source of revenue is taxation, it could potentially be as high as 17% of our revenue.”
Ungarian says if this proposal goes through, they’d have to consider some options to make up that lost revenue.
“Reduce services, reduce staff, increase tax rates other assessments for resident and non-residential, use reserves. It could cause some municipalities to dissolve.”
Ungarian says another concern he has is if taxes get reduced for the oil and companies, it could lead to other major industries asking for similar tax reductions as well.
– Kyle Moore, Trending 55 Newsroom
