Bonnyville Town Council reopened the debate over the well-documented Cold Lake Air Weapons Range (CLAWR) tax revenue sharing agreement at last week's regular council meeting, with Mayor Gene Sobolewski hoping to bring the province and the City of Cold Lake to the table to discuss the possible redistribution of surplus funds flowing from the arrangement.
Back in 2011, the City of Cold Lake, in compliance with the MD of Bonnyville, Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo and Lac La Biche County, established an agreement with the provincial government that would see the municipality receive a portion of the tax revenue generated by oil and gas activity on the air weapons range.
That deal, known as I.D. 349 or more commonly as the CLAWR agreement, has long been a moot point for the Town of Bonnyville but, when addressing council last week, Sobolewski was keen to point out that he had no intentions of taking anything away from the City of Cold Lake's original agreement with the province.
“I just want to be clear with this, this isn't about me or the Town of Bonnyville poking sticks, we're not trying to stir the pot here, that's not the objective,” Sobolewski said. “There is a significant amount of money coming out of that weapons range deal now (in the form of surpluses) and we'd like to see (some of those funds) come our way.”
Sobolewski said himself and Town CAO Mark Power have taken it upon themselves in recent weeks to look further into the agreement between Cold Lake and the provincial government.
On top of the near $16 million Cold Lake receives as a part of the agreement, Sobolewski said the municipality received an additional $5 million this year as a result of burgeoning surpluses flowing from the area. It's that money he would like to see municipalities such as Bonnyville and Glendon receive a share of.
“There was never anything (written into the agreement) with regards to a surplus, so that goes to the City too,” Sobolewski said in reply to a question from council.
Former mayor Ernie Isley previously lobbied the provincial government on this topic during his time with the municipality but following discussions with provincial ministers such as Doug Griffiths and Thomas Lukaszuk, a resolution never materialized.
Should the Town be successful in their bid to tie into weapons range funding, it would open up the possibility of taking on a number of new projects for a municipality that has a growing infrastructure deficit.
“If you look at the things we could do (with $5 million)…” Sobolewski said. “We're looking for funding with regards to our regional waterline project, we have a housing crunch, undersized waterlines (in town), while I'm sure everybody is familiar (with our deteriorating road conditions).”
He added, “We need money to catch up with this deficit. We need to start a dialogue with the provincial government and ensure we're really involving the City of Cold Lake every step of the way. I don't want this to become us versus them. This isn't about making enemies. I'd like us to come together and rationally discuss, as a region, the possibility of sharing or redistributing some of these surplus funds.”
Coun. Rene Van Brabant lauded Sobolewski for wanting to push forward with talks regarding the weapons range deal, stating it was something that should have been done years ago, while fellow councillor Jim Cheverie stated it was “high time” that council started to lobby this particular issue.
Van Brabant made a motion for council to support Sobolewski in moving forward with this project, with the mayor stating he would soon be reaching out to the necessary provincial and municipal contacts to try and get discussions underway.
