Official provincial opposition leader Danielle Smith stopped in Jasper last week, to meet with council and members of the Jasper Park Chamber of Commerce, during her tour of the West Yellowhead riding.
The early morning meeting was an opportunity for Smith to hear about Jasper’s unique issues—including its need for a specialized funding model.
That need is necessitated by the federal government’s restrictions on development, which stifle the municipality’s ability to grow its tax base.
“Growth and development are two things that don’t exist here,” explained Coun. Gilbert Wall. Because of that, the provincial government’s funding model—which is based on population, assessment and kilometres of road—doesn’t work for Jasper, and it doesn’t work for Banff or Canmore either.
The Municipality of Jasper has been working with the towns of Banff and Canmore to come up with a joint solution to present to the province, in order to get special recognition as resort municipalities—much like what’s done in British Columbia. With that status in B.C., municipalities like Whistler receive a portion of the hotel tax that’s collected within their boundaries.
“They collect eight per cent for the province, and they get to retain four per cent of that for their community,” explained Coun. Rico Damota of Whistler’s model. “We’re not looking for anything specific right now, but an understanding that we are unique and we need a tool, or tools.”
Those tools are necessary to ensure the future of tourism destinations like Jasper, added Damota.
“We’re not allowed to grow, so costs increase and taxes increase, and we’re going to keep hitting all of our residential owners and our business owners to a point where there’s going to be a breaking point and we have to be ahead of that curve before it happens,” he said.
The resounding message from both council and the business community was that there needs to be a new funding model. And bluntly put by Wall, it will likely be some kind of taxation.
“What we’re talking about, no matter which way you try and ice this cake, is a form of taxation,” he said.
“There’s an aversion with the Wildrose to any new form of taxation; there’s an aversion with the PC party to any form of taxation, but we as a community are competing against other resort municipalities, not just in B.C., but worldwide, that have access to taxation tools—and, simply put, we need something that will be spun as a tax.”
Wall noted that it will have to be some kind of consumption tax, whether it’s a hotel tax or not, so that visitors help fund the municipality’s operating deficit, allowing it to continue serving 25,000 people on its busiest weekends.
The idea of an additional tax for visitors was quickly and adamantly opposed by the General Manager of the Icefields Centre, Rusty Noble, who argued that visitors are being taxed enough as it is.
“You’re already taxing them in so many ways, whether it’s fuel taxes, whether it’s hotel taxes, you’ve got marketing taxes here; if you keep dumping it onto the consumer, the consumer is going to go somewhere else,” he said, noting that the provincial and federal governments benefit greatly from the revenue created in Jasper, and it should be their jobs to ensure the town and park are sufficiently funded.
The municipalities of Jasper, Banff and Canmore are currently working to finalize their plan for alternative revenue sources, so that it can be submitted to the province and considered while the Municipal Government Act is open to review and undergoing a rewrite.
Smith, who was unaware of Jasper’s struggles, asked that once the proposal is written, the municipality pass it on so that the Wildrose party can provide its support.
“It would be helpful for us to have an understanding of what the cohesive position is for what you’re actually looking for,” she said.
“There’s an opportunity and a small window, as well, for you to propose something unique and if you do end up doing that, please send it [along], so that we can be an advocate, if we can find some common ground in the legislature when the legislation comes forward.”
Smith also noted that if all three towns can find a solution that is supported by their business communities, “that’s kind of the perfect situation for politicians.”
Nicole Veerman
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