Irricana council agreed to maintain a Fortis franchise fee of zero for its residents at the Sept. 21 meeting.
If increased by one per cent, an estimated $4,584 of additional revenue would be raised for the Town but it would come with an estimate additional cost of $0.56 per month to the customer according to Irricana CAO Geoff Stephenson.
“If we were to do this and raise it, all we’re doing is putting it back onto the customer through other means,” he said.
This topic was publicly debated at length two years ago, said Stephenson, as to whether a franchise fee increase could be used to create a fund for capital infrastructure stabilization.
In addition, he said, many surrounding municipalities do charge a fee including Acme at three per cent and Airdrie at 12 per cent while others like Crossfield and Beiseker adhere to zero per cent.
No member of council spoke in favour of increasing the franchise fees.
“I think if we’re going to charge our constituents, then we do it through taxes up front and openly,” Deputy Mayor Dennis Tracz said.
New office hours
The Irricana Municipal Office will have new hours and be open five days a week starting Oct. 1 after council agreed to the changes on Sept. 21.
It will now be open from 8:45 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. before closing for one hour at lunch and reopening from 1:30 p.m. until 4:15 p.m. Monday to Friday.
Councillor Laura Thiessen, who requested the office be open on Fridays, had initial concerns about opening 15 minutes later, closing 15 minutes earlier and closing for an hour lunch.
“You’re actually losing an hour and a half a day,” she said.
Mayor Valerie Squires said the lost time being open during the day is compensated by staff working while the doors are closed, which she said adds to overall productivity.
“I actually see the point in this because we are still open five days,” Squires said.
Flag policy
Irricana will be changing the way it deals with lowering flags after Tracz noticed the provincial and federal flags were at half-mast for the death of Rocky View County Councillor Al Sacuta but the municipal flag was not.
“I think that’s a terrible sign of disrespect,” he said.
As it stood, when the Town received requests from public bodies to lower flags, those requests were forwarded to Public Works and completed as a work order according Stephenson.
The motion put forward by Tracz follows in the steps of the Province that when one flag is to be lowered for any reason, all flags are to be lowered.
“It’s not really an extra effort,” Thiessen said in agreement with the motion. “Let’s just make them all the same.”
The motion passed unanimously.
