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Seniors pay no property tax in M.D. of Opportunity
Joe McWilliams
Lakeside Leader
At The Leader we’ve been hearing rumours about almost unbelievable levels of service provided to M.D. of Opportunity residents. A trip to Wabasca last week to get to the bottom of the story confirmed the rumours: almost unbelievable, but true.
“We’re here to serve our people,” says reeve Paul Sinclair. “Not put money in the bank.”
The M.D. probably could be putting quite a bit of money in the bank, given its vast (mostly oilfield) industrial tax base, and an industrial mill rate that is several times that of the residential one. But it chooses instead to make life comfortable for its roughly 3,300 residents, whose taxes are considerably less than those paid by residents of neighbouring municipal districts.
For example: the M.D. maintains a fleet of water trucks, vacuum trucks and garbage trucks. Every residence that isn’t on an M.D. water and sewer line gets water delivered and sewer removed, plus garbage pickup – all for a flat rate of $45 per month.
If you like that, it gets better if you’re a senior citizen.
“We don’t charge a penny to seniors,” says Sinclair.
It gets even better yet. Residential property owners of 65 years and over don’t have to pay property taxes at all!
Sinclair says that tradition was already in place when the M.D. was born out of the old Improvement District #17. Seniors never had to pay property taxes in the I.D., he says, and the M.D. council of the day decided to stick with that system.
Word is getting around. Sinclair says the Alberta Association of Municipal Districts and Counties (AAMD&C) has been discussing the matter. Athabasca County, he says, has given him a hard time, half jokingly, about M.D. #17 sweet deal for seniors.
“A lot of people are interested in what we’re doing here,” Sinclair says. “They may think we’re going in the hole, but no.”
If the M.D. were to end up in the red, it could be due to the number of capital projects it has on the go.
Water and sewer installations in back lakes communities are ongoing, Sinclair says, as well as arena renovations in three or four communities. Sandy Lake is getting a new youth centre at the moment. The list goes on: a new public works shop in Chipewyan Lakes, a new fire hall in Sandy Lake, new housing planned for medical staff, a housing project for single mothers being discussed, skateboard parks in a couple of communities, two or three new or new-ish community halls.
The list is made longer by the nature of the M.D. It’s made up of seven communities and what one gets, the others want.
“Everything we do, it’s times five,” says special projects manager Paul Stencell.
It goes without saying that the M.D. needs a large staff to provide all the services it does. Sinclair says it’s around 150.
It also goes without saying that the M.D. can only spend money like this because it has it to begin with.
Another way it spends money is by hiring doctors and paying them a wage. Sinclair says there are two such physicians on the M.D. payroll at the moment. The per-patient compensation the province would otherwise pay the doctors comes instead to the M.D. Sinclair says it’s a more-or-less break-even proposition for the M.D., but the real advantage is that the doctors are not in a rush to see as many patients as possible.
“They’re not ‘see you next week’ doctors,” he says.
The land claim factor
Due to the Bigstone land claim, which may come to a vote as early as next year, the M.D. stands to lose some territory to its neighbouring First Nation. The communities of Chipewyan Lakes, Trout Lake and Peerless Lake, for example, are included in the land claim, which was settled in principal a year or two ago, with land details and membership ratification yet to come. So if the M.D. might lose Chip Lakes as soon as next year, why would it bother to build a half million dollar public works shop in that community?
“We haven’t stopped just because they’re going to be reserve,” Sinclair says. “We’re (also) still putting in water and sewer for them.”
Those M.D. facilities will be turned over to Bigstone when the time comes, but evidently it won’t be a total write-off for the M.D. Sinclair says the M.D. has an agreement with the province and the federal government, “that what we spend on capital we’ll get back. It’s coming off their (Bigstone’s) land claims.”
When it comes to services, Sinclair says the M.D. would be willing to still provide them to the residents, but no longer for the current rates.
“If they want our services still, it’s cost plus,” he says. “I’ve told them that.”
If things are busy now in the M.D. of Opportunity (and they are), they could be getting a lot busier. Heavy oil projects in the north of the district – if they proceed as planned – will bring a lot of activity and a lot more people to the area.
“Our expectation is in two or three years there will probably be 10,000 people in Wabasca,” Sinclair says. “People are saying more than that, but I hope it’s not that many.”
For now, Shell has provided money for an expansion of the Wabasca airport, and also plans to pave the Al-Pac road up to Chip Lakes over three years, Sinclair says.
Plenty of challenges lie ahead, but for now, the M.D. seems to have its head well above water. And the advantages for residents – especially seniors – are turning a lot of heads.
“What the hell are you guys doing?” is a question Sinclair says he’s been asked by other municipalities.
“I said, you can do the same – all you have to do is charge your oil companies.”
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