Is Service Alberta Going Broke?
As of April 1st this year, Service Alberta is charging alot more for their services. Your driver’s license, land titles and corporate registeries are seeing a jump in cost. But that’s not what is going to hit your wallet the hardest.
What will be a more significant cost to you is a brand spanky new fee for every photo radar, red-light camera or parking ticket written. Whether you get a ticket or not. Fifteen dollars for every one of those pesky buggers.
Why fifteen dollars? What exactly does Service Alberta have to do in processing these tickets? I don’t know, but it must be fifteen dollars worth of effort or they wouldn’t be charging it… all of a sudden… out of the blue.
The new fees will cost municipalities across Alberta, millions of dollars. Calgary is looking at losing police staff because of the costs, St. Albert Councillors are discussing a tax increase, while Red Deer and other municipalities are lobbying for a delay in the implementation.
Medicine Hat City council was glowing a month ago over a budget that balanced with a 0% tax increase for this year. However now, with Service Alberta collecting over a half million dollars from our city’s piggy bank… it translates to a tax increase of 1 percent.
Which leads one to wonder why there is such a shortfall with this Provincial Department? I don’t know how Service Alberta ended up with such a strained budget, but WE are certainly going to feel it.
April 9th, 2011 at 11:54 AM
Mike says:
Alex McCuaig summed up things nicely. It comes down to the fact that our Municipal government can balance their budget but the Provincial government can’t. And it’s the municipal government that has to be the bearer of the news.
Well at least the province is putting our money to good use . . . elsewhere in the province. It’s nice that Edmonton is going to be home to a $340 million museum. That will give our students a place to go visit and get out of their overcrowded schools for a day.
http://www.medicinehatnews.com/opinions/albertans-will-pay-by-hook-or-by-crook-04092011.html?sms_ss=twitter&at_xt=4da09388e0abe911,0
April 14th, 2011 at 11:32 AM
TJ says:
“why there is such a shortfall with this Provincial Department” I feel it’s government misspending. 0% to 1% increase, heck I would be standing up and clapping. Our country US, state of IL has a governor who is socking it to corporate businesses and the general public. Within two months of being elected he has turned the state of IL into one of the highest taxed states. He is pushing for an tax increase of 50% to try and balance the budget. How did the budget go so deep into the red? Government misuse of tax payers money. The US could use a lesson from Calgary.