Town discusses updated offsite levies bylaw

By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Town of Strathmore council was presented with an opportunity to discuss and ask questions regarding Bylaw 24-17, being the Offsite Levy Bylaw, during the Sept. 11 Committee of the Whole meeting. 

Being strictly a question and conversation period, there was no presentation which was brought before council. 

Offsite levies are designed to provide necessary funds for projects which are required due to new developments. 

Local infrastructure is provided to all residents through utilities charges and taxes, while offsite levies allow for new developments to pay their proportionate shares to the town.

Bylaw 24-17 is presented as an update to the current offsite levies bylaw, 21-07 currently in effect, ensuring funds collected by the town match anticipated future expenditures. 

“As master plans change, as construction costs change, it is prudent to update the offsite levies bylaw,” said Ethan Wilson, manager of infrastructure for the Town of Strathmore.  “We have hired Corvus Business Solutions to do the background report that goes along with this bylaw. The one benefit of going with Corvus’ solution is it provides us with an opportunity to update in house more regularly. My intent would be to do this every 12 to 18 months if possible.”

Offsite levies are standard to have in place for the majority of municipalities across Alberta. These are periodically evaluated and updated in order to assure their alignment with community plans. 

The proposed rates within the bylaw are higher than those featured in the current bylaw, which was recommended in response to inflation and timing.

Corvus included six recommendations to the town in their report regarding updates to offsite levies. 

One of these recommendations was such that the Municipal Government Act enables municipalities to charge offsite levies for recreation, fire, police, library, and interchange facilities. It was recommended that council and administration consider adopting such levies in the future, similar to what as has been done in municipalities such as Calgary and Cochrane. 

“That is a relatively new option for municipalities, so in order to have a proper levy, we need to have the proper background information in terms of what we need, how much it costs, and what areas would help pay for those items,” explained Wilson. “We are internally looking at that process; we are not at a point where we can bring a levy to council to consider, but that is definitely something we are looking at.”

The full report provided by Corvus to the Town of Strathmore is available online via the town Committee of the Whole meeting agenda for Sept. 11.