Province and RMA will meet to discuss funding gap left by energy companies

CALGARY (660 NEWS) – Many of Alberta’s oil and gas companies have struggled to turn a profit, creating a major funding problem for rural municipalities.

On Monday, a report was releases showing that rural municipalities were left with $173-million in unpaid property taxes from energy companies.

“These taxes were owed for the year 2019. We have operated our budgets accordingly and now for us to come up that short, it’s a challenge for us to try figure out where that money comes from to deal with that deficit from last year,” said Al Kemmere, President of the Rural Municipalities of Alberta.

Premier Jason Kenney commented on the issue Tuesday, saying many of these companies are on the brink of bankruptcy and they need to make money to pay their bills.

READ MORE: Rural communities say oil and gas companies need to pay their bills

Kemmere understands many businesses are in turmoil, however, he doesn’t want the costs to be downloaded on other tax payers and want oil and gas companies to start paying their fair share.

“Nobody wants to force companies into bankruptcy because these are companies that live on our landscape and employ many of our residents,” Kemmere said.

“But at the same time there is an obligation no different than any other rate payer who finds themselves fallen on hard times, they still typically meet their commitments from a taxation point of view.”

The Rural Municipalities of Alberta plans to sit down with the Provincial Minister of Municipal Affairs in the coming weeks to carve out a solution to the funding gap.

-with files from Craig Lester