Alberta communities under strain looking for more help with population growth

Municipal leaders in southern Alberta say their communities are feeling the strain of the province's population growth — and are hoping the government will come through with more cash to help with the pressure.   

On Tuesday, Municipal Affairs Minister Ric McIver announced in Lethbridge that applications were open for the new Local Growth and Sustainability Grant (LGSG). 

The program promises $20 million every year for the next three years to help municipalities address pressures they face from rapid growth. Municipalities that want to receive a portion of that money can now apply and funding will be awarded on a competitive basis.

The grant has about $15 million set aside in 2024-25 for communities with populations between 10,000 and 200,000. It also contains about $5 million meant to help communities with populations less than 10,000.

"We recognize that the LGSG will not be a silver bullet or a solution to all the infrastructure problems, but it is, indeed, we believe, a step in the right direction, in the direction that municipalities have asked us to go," McIver said.

According to quarterly population estimates from Statistics Canada, Alberta's population grew by 807,452 from July 2014 to July 2024.

Tyler Gandam, president of Alberta Municipalities, which represents the cities and towns where over 85 per cent of Albertans live, called the program "a great start."

"I know that this is going to be a help for these communities that are growing fast because growth doesn't necessarily pay for growth," Gandam.

Growing communities need developed land, homes and infrastructure such as roadways and water distribution, which are extremely expensive for municipalities, Gandam said.

Most places have a range of needs they can't meet through municipal taxes alone, he said.

"Some of our towns and cities are over 100 years old, and that aging infrastructure definitely needs some help," he said. "I'm not saying that all that needs to be borne by the province. Obviously the municipalities have a role to play in that, too."

Gandam said the Local Government Fiscal Framework, which is the primary way the province helps fund municipalities, still falls short of the monetary needs municipalities have.

"We're about $1 billion a year short to address the infrastructure needs that we have in our communities," Gandam said.

Not enough money to go around

Okotoks Mayor Tanya Thorn told CBC News her town is facing huge pressures from population growth, just like several other jurisdictions in the Calgary area.

Affordable housing is one of those pressures.

"The housing here is becoming out of their price point," she said.

Thorn said Okotoks is also in need of improvements to its infrastructure. Similar to other growing towns, its roads and amenities need to expand in order to accommodate the increasing amount of people moving to the town just south of Calgary.

Thorn said she appreciates that the Alberta government recognizes the challenges cities and towns face and is funnelling some money to help solve them, but it's not enough.

"In terms of the funding, there's 26 mid-sized communities … it's not even $1,000,000 for each of us," Thorn said.

To put into perspective the exorbitant costs cities and towns face when their population expands rapidly, Thorn pointed to estimated costs for growth-related infrastructure in Okotoks. It amounts to $220 million.

"It's great that this is available but … $20 million a year, it's not necessarily a significant input."

Thorn said she's grateful to see the province offering a helping hand but the competitive application funding model presents its own set of challenges.

"We've all got to apply with our project and sell why we're a better project than our neighbouring community … the needs of each of us is significantly different," Thorn said.

She noted the way funding programs in the province are designed and the reality of how cities and towns operate are no longer aligned.

"We need to have a different conversation of how we fund [municipalities] because we can't do it on the back of a municipal taxpayer, quite honestly, in property taxes. It's too prohibitive," Thorn said.

Airdrie Mayor Peter Brown told CBC News he hopes that over time the province will recognize that funding will have to increase, but he called the grant "awesome."

"We're happy it's here, hoping to be able to access some of it for some of our high needs and specific infrastructure projects. But at the end of the day, any amount is a good amount," Brown said.

The Airdrie mayor said he appreciates the province recognizing the challenges that cities like his face, acknowledging needs such as help with water and sewer infrastructure, recreation, roads and fire halls. 

"When you grow as quickly as we have, we have pressure across the spectrum," he said. "Any support is good support."

Cochrane Mayor Jeff Genung told CBC News his town is in the same position as every other growing municipality in the province.

"You're trying to build the airplane while you're flying," Genung said.

He added growth is a good problem to have, but the scale at which Cochrane is growing is making things difficult, putting an enormous amount of pressure on its organization.

Genung added it's refreshing that the province is recognizing the pressures that Cochrane is under, but he acknowledged the provincial funding as it stands is not going to solve all of the town's issues.

"As municipalities, are we getting enough funding? I would say no," Genung said.

"But I also don't want to be the person who's always coming to the province with our hand out, because there's only one taxpayer at the end. And basically, asking the province for more money is asking Albertans for more money."

Lethbridge Mayor Blaine Hyggen said in a statement his city is experiencing growth pressures and is happy with the new funding announcement.

"The LGSG offers essential funding opportunities for our priority projects," Hyggen said. "We are grateful to the province for introducing this new funding stream, and we look forward to submitting competitive proposals."

In a statement to CBC News, Canmore Mayor Sean Krausert said the town is happy with the government's announcement.

"We will be looking into the details of the program, how they fit within Canmore's future infrastructure needs," Krausert said.