“We’re ratepayers as well and it is devastating for all of us and people are upset about it, understandably so. I get that, I’m not happy about it either,” Ma-Me-O Beach Mayor Christine Holmes said
Residents and property owners of Ma-Me-O Beach have until Monday to pay a $19,500 special tax after a failed wastewater project, but the community remains divided with some refusing to pay.
The special tax, which passed in April, was council’s solution to pay off the $5-million debt from the project that many residents of the lake village, located approximately 93 kilometres south of Edmonton, opposed, and only 10 per cent opted to connect to.
Ma-Me-O Beach Mayor Christine Holmes said the special tax was a last resort for the council, which exhausted all other avenues, including selling their day park, bankruptcy, and seeking help from the province. By the end of August, she said just over 50 per cent of residents have paid the special tax.
“We’re ratepayers as well, and it is devastating for all of us and people are upset about it, understandably so. I get that, I’m not happy about it either,” Holmes said.
Holmes said council is looking at ways to recoup funds through legal action and if they are successful, the first thing they will do is give people as much money back as they can.
The debt incurred by the municipality was largely in part due to a wastewater project that began in 2017 to replace septic tanks with a sewer system.
Holmes said the municipality has to pay off the debt, which carries an annual interest of about $300,000.
For those who aren’t able to meet the Sept. 30 deadline but have reached out for an extension, Holmes said they are able to grant one until the end of December. For those who did not request and were granted an extension, they would receive a 12 per cent penalty at the of September and 18 per cent on any outstanding balances on Jan. 1.
If residents don’t pay the tax their property could be seized.
‘Nobody’s held accountable’
Dave Walker, a property owner in Ma-Me-O Beach, said he and a handful of property owners are seeking legal action to fight against paying the special tax and points to municipal affairs for the lack of accountability, sending numerous emails to Minister of Municipal Affairs Rick McIver’s office seeking answers.
“Nobody’s held accountable. There’s not an audit, it only looks at what happens going forward,” Walker said. “We’re paying more taxes in one year for something that we didn’t want, that we didn’t connect to.”
Walker said they are pursuing legal counsel but should it prove ultimately unsuccessful, he said he may have no choice but to pay up.
Heather Jenkins, press secretary to the Minister of Municipal Affairs, said locally elected councils have the authority to determine the necessary tax and fees required to fund programs and services in the municipality.
“A special tax bylaw must not be passed unless the estimated cost of the specific service or purpose for which the tax is imposed is included in the budget of the municipality as an estimated expenditure,” Jenkins said.
In the meantime, the province is conducting a viability review which was initiated on Dec. 20, 2023, for the Summer Village of Ma-Me-O Beach to determine if the municipality can continue or be absorbed into the County of Wetaskiwin. A report is expected to be distributed in January 2025 and a vote of electors on the question of dissolution is anticipated for February or March 2025.
A community divided
Miles Jackson, a longtime resident of Ma-Me-O Beach, dropped off his $19,500 cheque on Thursday.
He was part of the group of property owners who tried to stop the wastewater project once he realized there was little hope it would be successful. He blames the former council for ignoring residents’ protests and pushing ahead with the project.
“My wife and I worked four months this summer at the hotdog stand just about every day, and we didn’t earn enough money to pay that off. So there’s a whole summer of our lives gone for nothing, really,” Jackson said.
“There’s people that, well — I don’t know if anybody can really afford it.”
Jackson said at this point there’s nothing he can do but wait to see what the outcome of the province’s viability review, adding it’s heartbreaking to see the community even more divided on the issue
“I appreciate these people that are angry and frustrated and fighting the payment,” Jackson said. “The reality is the longer that their payments are delayed, the more it’s impacting everyone else that’s paying.”