STAY CONNECTED: Have the stories that matter most delivered every night to your email inbox. Subscribe to our daily local news wrap.
County of Grande Prairie Council poses with the $1.2 million giant cheque outside City Hall on Monday (Photo: County of Grande Prairie)
By Shaun Penner
Revenue Sharing

Differing views on cheque presentation between City and County

Dec 3, 2019 | 1:03 PM

What was described as a rather unusual delegation took place at yesterday’s City Council meeting.

County of Grande Prairie Council attended the meeting during an open delegation to present a $1.2 million giant cheque as part of a revenue sharing agreement with the City, in relation to Aquatera services that are provided to the County.

The County was hoping to pose for a photo with City Council with the cheque. However, City Council members declined the invitation to do so.

The request to do this caught City Councillor Dylan Bressey off guard, as such a request was strange to him.

“We’re having a business meeting today (Monday), so we didn’t stop for a photo op,” said Bressey. “It is also unusual to make a cheque presentation for a contractual obligation.”

Bressey also took to Facebook shortly after the presentation on Monday to explain his thoughts on the matter.

County Reeve Leanne Beaupre explains though that the purpose of the cheque presentation and photo opportunity wasn’t entirely about the money owed in this specific case. What they were hoping for was a little more recognition for their contributions to various City services over the years.

“We contribute annually, not only in the form of a revenue sharing agreement, but also many grants that go to organizations and not for profits, social agencies. Even the library and the art gallery,” said Beaupre. “We get very little recognition, or even acknowledgement from the City of Grande Prairie that we contribute to this.”

An additional reason for the City’s decision to not take part in the photo is that, according to Grande Prairie City Council, this annual payment was due back in September. The giant cheque was also not a proper form of payment, therefore the City says that as of Monday night, they were still waiting for the official payment.

“It is much overdue and our staff have been working with County staff to get payment as promptly as possible,” said Bressey.

Though she did not speak specifically about if the County has paid or not, she did say the notion that the County is getting a “free ride” is unfair.

“There is lots of discussion out there that the County is not paying its fair share,” said Beaupre. “We’re presently in discussions speaking about that and we wanted the general public, not only our rate payers but the City of Grande Prairie’s rate payers, that we do. We do already contribute.”

The County explains in a release that the agreement has been in place since 2003, in which the County has paid nearly $10 million through the agreement over that time.

The County further details that the agreement states that the County provide the City with 20 per cent of its municipal tax revenue from co-generational facilities and 10 per cent of all municipal revenues on any new commercial and industrial development in areas serviced by Aquatera.

In the meantime, Beaupre says she doesn’t expect this situation to cause any rift between them and City Council.

“Good fences make good neighbours. We continue to see that we need to work with our neighbours on all kinds of projects,” said Beaupre. “I don’t think it will change the relationship between the County and the City.”

“Although we may not always agree on everything, we know that we work towards what’s best for our rate payers in our region.”

by Shaun Penner