AUMA and province resolve rift, but ideas on MSI funding still different

EDMONTON – The head of Alberta’s Urban Municipalities Association has patched up a rift with the province, but says she still has concerns over how towns and cities get money.

Linda Sloan says cities need dedicated funding to fix infrastructure and deliver programs.

Sloan says too much of that funding – about 20 per cent – still comes in the form of grants.

“What I have said, what previous presidents of AUMA have said publically, and to members of government, is that the grant system has been subject to reduction, to change and to partisan influence,” Sloan told reporters after she and Municipal Affairs Minister Doug Griffiths delivered speeches at an association meeting in Edmonton, “And that is why we have a problem with it. That is why it needs fixing.”

She says municipalities can’t base long-term budgets on grants, which she says can be subject to political whims and allegiances.

Griffiths had planned to boycott the meeting over comments Sloan made that suggested government funding to municipalities has become corrupted by pork-barrel politics.

Griffiths changed his mind after Sloan said she had been quoted out of context.

“Ms Sloan’s explanation to me was that it wasn’t misleading political partisanship that you give money to those who support you or vote for you, it meant it was open to politics and meaning, for instance, MSI, the grant funding didn’t climb as fast as it was supposed to because of a global economic downturn. So, political decisions were made that we couldn’t spend as much money as we wanted to. My impression was that was what she intended.”

Both sides now say they are moving forward and promise to talk to each directly before going public with complaints.

With files from Vinesh Pratap