Town of Taber elected officials got a look into the crystal ball that will be the upcoming provincial budget that will be announced in early March.
Premier Alison Redford visited the town last week where Town of Taber officials were privy to a meet-and-greet dinner where they were able to bend the ear of the premier.
“It’s always a pleasure to have elected officials come to our community and spend some time with us whether it be MLAs or MPs or the premier, it’s always great to have them,” said Ray Bryant, mayor for the Town of Taber.
The brief encounter between the Town of Taber and M.D. of Taber councils and their CAOs netted both questions for their respective regions and a look into what is upcoming for their March provincial budget.
“She (Redford) has stressed that they are not going back to healthcare premiums. That will not happen. There will be no increase in the income tax in regards to budget,” said Bryant in what was relayed from Redford to town council at last week’s dinner meeting.

“There will also be no sales tax. The key one for us in the two municipalities is that the MSI (Municipal Sustainability Initiative) funding will not be touched. The funding that is in place at this point in time will be in place for the long term.”
The message proves to be good news for the town who has been able to utilize the MSI funding and federal gas tax money over the years to help with major projects costing millions of dollars.
“A good chunk of that is for capital, for infrastructure. We have been able to take those funds and as we speak, we have the water-treatment plant upgrades where we are applying a good chunk of that money. We have been able to utilize that money for a lot of other projects as well including intersections at (Highway) 3 and 36, we have the (Highway) 3 and 57, wastewater treatment plant, those are big capital projects,” said Bryant. “Without it, I don’t know where we would be. We still have more to do. We still don’t know what we are going to do with our wastewater. Do we enhance the existing plant where we can do domestic and industrial, or do we upgrade our lagoon pivot system and continue to run our industrial and our domestic in the existing plant? As long as we know this funding is in place for an ‘x’ number of years, then we can plan accordingly, which is a huge plus for us for long-term planning.”
Municipal wise, the premier was reminded once again of the need for extra funding for municipal policing, an issue Bryant assured the minister of justice is well aware of. Tax recovery land was also discussed along with the education system involving streaming for career paths.
“It was in regards to the notion that when kids are going through high school, they have their academic stream and you have your trades,” said Bryant. “There was a question in regards to what can be done more for those interested in the trades. Because we know not everyone is university bound. We know there is a huge shortage in the trades with skilled labour in today’s environment.”
According to Bryant, the premier did mention the health quality council were tasked in regards to what was happening with ambulance and dispatch within the province, and it has been put on hold.
“A few years ago there was a push that 9-1-1 dispatch was going to come out of basically two or three centres in Alberta. We probably would have been dispatched out of Calgary,” said Bryant. “That was put on hold because we have our own 9-1-1 dispatching which Lethbridge is in. There are a few municipalities who have dispatch with 9-1-1. There is that concern within our province (over quality of service), so she told us that has been put on hold until there is further information and data.”