News Advertiser PAGE 15
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March 16, 2022
RMA Targets Oil and Gas Companies Michelle Pinon News Advertiser Rural Municipalities of Alberta, (RMA) is once again raising the alarm about oil and gas companies not paying their unpaid property taxes. RMA, an advocacy group that represents 69 municipalities in the province, stated in a March 8 news release that $253 million in property taxes is currently owed to municipalities by oil and gas companies.
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where wells are located.” Williams said the overall financial impact of these unpaid taxes has been significant to the County, resulting in scaling back capital programs and delay infrastructure upgrades, with the intent of maintaining core service levels. “The efforts made by the province have not been effective at making these operating, but delinquent companies, to pay their property taxes. In short, there are no consequences should an oil/gas company
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simply prefer to not pay its taxes. Whereas homeowners, farmland, and business owners face very real consequences for the same behavior. The only viable option is for the province to tie oil and gas companies’ licenses to operate to the payment of both property taxes and surface leases. For some unknown reason, the province does not wish to do this.” Total outstanding taxes oil and gas
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companies owe Lamont County is $1.3 million, and Smoky Lake County is owed $1,598,365.08. Beaver County is currently owed $1,319,277.48 and the municipality has written off $1,668,734.71 since 2015. According to a survey Beaver County completed for RMA in February, 2022, it stated: “It appears that many agricultural landowners are not receiving surface access agreement payments. Beaver County has no authority to address this matter. The Farmers Advocate and Surface Rights Board are playing a role in this issue.” Non-payment of surface access agree-
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Oilfield site located south of Highway 16 on Range Road 92 near Mannville. (Michelle Pinon/Photo)
County of Minburn Chief Administrative Officer, (CAO) Brent Williams said that since 2016 the municipality is owed more than $4 million in unpaid taxes from the oil and gas sector. “The current arrears are approximately $400,000. And this amount is owed by companies that continue to operate. Another significant issue is that these delinquent companies are also not paying their surface lease/rent to landowners
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ments was discussed at Beaver County council’s March 2 meeting. Division 4 Councillor Barry Bruce said one problem probably affecting every single Albertan are electricity and heating bills. Bruce said one of his ratepayers’ monthly heating bill was $700 and that he had two gas wells on his property and hasn’t been paid in five years. “These energy companies are making off like bandits and I agree with him,” noted Bruce. There are a few oil and gas companies that are making efforts to pay their outstanding taxes. Council debated a request
RMA Targets Oil - CONTINUED ON PAGE 16
Climate Gentrification Rising Temperatures and the Urban Housing Market
Is climate change affecting the real estate market? Without a doubt, the answer to this question is yes. Due to an increasing number of wildfires in the west and major floods along our nation’s coasts, homes in areas affected by climate-related disasters are losing their value. While coastal properties were once worth a fortune, many people no longer want to invest in real estate that could literally end up underwater. A study by researchers at Harvard University, however, illustrates that climate change is affecting the urban real estate market in a different way. As coastal homes become increasingly vulnerable to flooding, wealthy people are selling waterfront properties and moving into low-income areas that are less susceptible to flooding. As properties at higher elevations appreciate in value, low-income families are priced out and forced to seek more affordable housing elsewhere. The researchers call this phenomenon
climate gentrification and identify a few pathways through which it occurs: • Superior investment pathway: since waterfront property is no longer a sound investment, property values in wealthy, coastal areas like Miami Beach drop as people invest more in poorer neighbourhoods like Little Haiti, thereby driving out existing residents. • Cost-burden pathway: the cost of making homes resistant to flooding becomes so high that lower-income people move out of coastal and water-locked cities altogether (for instance, people leaving Venice for Italy’s mainland). • Resilience investment pathway: as cities invest in making housing more resilient to climate-related disasters, property values go up and lower-income households are forced out. Overall, the study reveals that climate change affects not only our weather but also the values of our homes and the demographics of our cities.
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