Alberta Urban Municipalities Association (AUMA) President Linda Sloan took a lashing at the thumbs of Premier Alison Redford's chief of staff and Municipal Affairs minister this week.
Sloan criticized the Progressive Conservative budget and told media municipal funding has been based on partisan distribution.
Redford's chief of staff Stephen Carter tweeted that Sloan “didn't just criticize the budget, she lied. Maliciously."
In a press release on Thursday, Sloan said urban municipalities had no input into the budget.
“The 277 villages, towns and cities across Alberta that plan and deliver the core and essential services citizens rely on …. remain in the dark about what comes after 2012. This budget only gives firm funding for one year. Municipalities need a new relationship with the Government of Alberta and a new approach to municipal funding."
In a letter to Sloan, Municipal Affairs Minister Doug Griffiths called the comment to media on municipal funding a “completely inaccurate portrayal of reality," on Feb. 13. “Even more disturbing is your assertion that municipalities receive provincial funding based on their voting choices."
Griffiths said the PC caucus would not attend the organization's annual breakfast on Thursday because of Sloan's comments to the media. Griffiths reversed the decision later, tweeting that he would be at the breakfast, on Wednesday afternoon.
On Wednesday afternoon, Carter indicated over Twitter he had sent a note apologizing to the AUMA president.
The Town of St. Paul is an AUMA member. Mayor Glenn Andersen said members want the new relationship with the Province with stable funding AUMA asks for, but said Sloan's statement on partisan funding did not represent all members.
The Alberta Association of Municipal Districts and Counties called the budget a “positive direction for rural municipalities," in a press release on Feb. 9, which noted Municipal Sustainability Initiative (MSI) funding will increase by $10 million to $896 million. “AAMDC appreciates the continued commitment the government has demonstrated towards municipalities through this program."
County of St. Paul Reeve Steve Upham agreed. “I think the increased MSI funding is certainly going to be a help to the County. We rely heavily as a municipality on MSI."
MSI uses a set formula that considers kilometres of road and population, Upham added. “There's a fairly tight formula as to how MSI is distributed … I think everybody is treated equally by the formula."
Wildrose Party leader Danielle Smith echoed the view of Sloan calling for a new deal for municipalities with the Province, in a press release on Feb. 14.
“Either you toe the party line or you stay silent. Criticism is not tolerated," Wildrose MLA Paul Hinman said, in the press release regarding the PCs not attending the AUMA breakfast.
“The PCs act like political warlords, swaggering around the province, swinging their power around and threatening people into submission and silence," said Liberal Party leader Raj Sherman, in a press release today.
The Wildrose Party released its policy on municipal funding last week. The party would collapse the current patchwork of grant programs into a single provincial transfer called the Community Infrastructure Transfer and send 10 per cent of provincial tax revenues and 10 per cent of budget surpluses directly to municipalities with “no strings attached."
The party would also review the Municipal Government Act to define roles of municipal and provincial governments.