Photo: YouTube / County of Grande Prairie

By Shaun Penner

Hythe Dissolution

Hythe to officially dissolve into County of Grande Prairie July 1

Jun 10, 2021 | 1:45 PM

With the Order in Council passed by provincial cabinet Wednesday, the Village of Hythe will officially dissolve to become a hamlet within the County of Grande Prairie effective July 1, 2021.

This transition follows a vote by village residents at the end of March as to whether they wanted to dissolve the village and become a part of the county. Resident voted overwhelmingly in favour, 239-12, to dissolve the village.

READ MORE: Hythe residents overwhelmingly vote to dissolve into County of Grande Prairie

Having expected the province would approve the dissolution following that vote in March, County Reeve Leanne Beaupre says much work has already begun to prepare for the transition.

“Our administration has reached out to the administration of the Village of Hythe… to talk about the transition of staff and transition of assets, and really understanding what the inner workings of the village have been to this point so that we can make that transition as seamless as possible.”

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The vote followed a viability review triggered by village council in April of 2020, as rising operational costs and much-needed infrastructure repairs were becoming too costly for the village to manage on its own and would have likely led to a 150 per cent tax increase for Hythe residents this year had the dissolution not passed.

With the county set to take over the governance of Hythe, Beaupre says a lot of work remains ahead before the hamlet will be fully integrated within the county.

This includes the collection of taxes this year, which have already gone out in the name of the Village of Hythe.

“We’re going to have to work side-by-side with the village to collect those taxes and basically run two sets of books until such time as we can integrate them all together.”

Council will also be taking a deep dive into the bylaws and policies from the village, as the order from Municipal Affairs dictates that those will remain in effect in Hythe until such time as county council officially votes to rescind or amend them.

Taxation will also be a topic of discussion for county council. Under the order, the county be able to impose an additional tax, by bylaw, on properties that fall within the boundaries of Hythe to pay for outstanding liabilities or to meet borrowing obligations undertaken by the village prior to dissolution.

As village government will be officially dissolved as of Canada Day, the Hamlet of Hythe will now be represented by Councillor Linda Waddy in Division 7.

While councils in other municipalities opted to redraw ward/divisional boundaries or add additional councillors under similar transitions, like the MD of Greenview having Grande Cache represented with three councillors to offer balanced representation in chambers, Beaupre says no changes will be coming to county representation at this time.

“By consolidating the population of the Village of Hythe (827 in the 2016 census) with the Division 7 population, it doesn’t exceed any of our (other) divisions. It actually balances it a little bit better,” said Beaupre.

“So, there will not be any further representation, other than what presently is there.”

While there is still much work and decisions ahead to fully complete the transition, Beaupre says she is pleased to finally have everything set in stone to move forward.

“Now that the order is finally passed and we know that the residents will become county family, we are certainly happy to welcome them into the County of Grande Prairie.”