When will enough be enough

[cakadu]

I would also think that municipalities, whether richer or poorer, must consider how much it is going to cost to maintain the infrastructure versus the revenue that they will get from it, new developments etc. I have read several times that for each dollar spent on infrastructure, it costs another $1.15 to maintain it. Is that enough to be offset by the revenues? Municipalities make an awful lot of tax money off of acreage owners, so is it any wonder that they want them going in? It seems to me we need to be really careful about what we ask for because once there is pavement over it, we will have a hard time getting it back, if at all.

Increased growth does not necessarily mean that well-thought out planning goes right out the window.

[cowman]

I hear you both on these issues and I do realize it is incredibly expensive to build roads, landfills, water and sewage systems, policing, and firefighting! And in reality I believe our municipal governments have done a fairly good job with the money they have.
I do believe the feds and province have not done their part in sharing the wealth with the municipal governments to keep up the infratructure? For example, take the federal "road tax"? How much do Albertans pay per year at 10 cents a liter? How much of that money has come back to the province for infrastructure?
The Klein government gets the royalty checks from the oil. How much of that comes back to the municipalities for needed infrastructure? I do know that this year they have thrown some cash out there, but they were pretty tight with it the last decade or so?
I remember Ralph Klein talking about medicare and education a couple of years back and it is one of the few times I actually agreed with him! He said "How much is enough? If we spend 50% on health and education...is it enough? Or 70%? Sooner or later we have to realize we can't keep spending more and more on these two programs." And yet if he talks in any way of trying to deliver these services cheaper he gets branded as a complete fascist or something!....and in the meantime Quebec quietly goes about delivering private health care and not a word is said?

[cowman]

Linda, municipalities do not MAKE a huge amount on acreage development if the municipality builds the infrastructure including water lines, etc. In my county the internal roads in the country residential parcels are the responsibility of the developer but the municipality mantains them once they are in place. That is a significant cost, snow removal takes twice as long in a residential subdivision as it does plowing a straight length of road, etc.

Industrial, commercial and machinery and equipment and power and pipeline assessment is the money maker for municipalities