Rocky View County (RVC) council gave a third and final reading to a new Community Aggregate Payment (CAP) Levy Bylaw at its May 22 meeting. “Under the Municipal Government Act (MGA), RVC is authorized to impose a levy on extracted aggregate for the purpose of raising revenue to pay for infrastructure and other costs,” said Doug Hafichuk with Engineering Services. According to Hafichuk, the County’s current CAP levy has not been updated since its inception in 2006. Revisions to the MGA that came into effect Jan. 1 allow RVC to increase the rate collected under the levy, Hafichuk said, from $0.25 per tonne to $0.40 per tonne. “Adopting the increased rate can reasonably be expected to produce approximately $185,000 in additional revenues for 2018, and $365,000 annually thereafter,” he said. The CAP levy has historically formed a substantial portion of the annual budget for road improvements, Hafichuk said. Under the old rate, the County collected approximately $11.58 million between 2006 and 2016 to fund maintenance and improvements to RVC’s road network. “Between 2012 and 2016, the County collected approximately $4.53 million in CAP levy revenues, representing approximately 13 per cent of the $34.56 million allocated towards improving the road network during that period,” he said. Rather than amending the previous bylaw, administration recommended replacing it with a new one to update language, align with recent guidance from outside legal counsel and introduce three structural changes to the bylaw. Those changes seek to eliminate unnecessary administrative work, clarify the intent of the CAP levy and reduce the likelihood of further legal challenges. According to Hafichuk, a significant change to the bylaw includes removing statements limiting CAP levy revenue to road improvements. “The MGA does not specifically impose any requirements to use funds on road projects, but rather allows us to use them for any project or any other government expense,” Hafichuk said. This change to the bylaw came, in part, because of a recent legal challenge against the bylaw. “It would, ultimately, handcuff the County to use those funds for that sole purpose unnecessarily, and if, for some reason by doing so, an outside party has concerns about the use of those funds, it opens us up to challenge,” said Bryon Riemann, general manager of Infrastructure and Operations. Other changes include clarifying language to indicate the levy is applied to the tonnage of aggregate shipped and changing the frequency with which operators must self-report from twice per year to once per year. Council voted unanimously to approve first reading, and bypassed a motion directing administration to advertise the bylaw before bringing it back for subsequent readings. “I have a concern with engaging the public for the sake of engaging the public – we’re really not interested in what they have to say, it’s just open for comment,” said Coun. Kim McKylor. “Personally, I think that’s blowing smoke. I would rather we pass the bylaw, so we can start collecting some revenue.” Second and third readings passed unanimously.
