Province could cash in on new fee that will cost the city millions
Posted Apr 5, 2011 3:41 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Buried deep within the February provincial budget was a new fee that has many Calgary councillors up in arms.
The province has decided to charge municipalities a $15 fee to get the address information for every ticket they write.
The province has said they stand to make about $12-million with the new fee, but some reports suggest the government could be making much more than that.
Mayor Naheed Nenshi has said he’s written a letter to the premier, asking him to rethink this new fee.
Alderman Andre Chabot says he’s not pleased with the idea of the province making money while the city is taking a hit.
“If they want to charge us $15 per ticket to get the information on individual drivers, then they should be compensating us by increasing the price of those tickets so we can offset that loss in revenue somehow. Ultimately it’s going to cost the city money,” says Chabot.
He adds that he doesn’t think it’s fair of the province to go ahead with the new fee without giving the city a chance to do a cost recovery on it.
Sharon Lopatka is a spokesperson for Service Alberta and tells 660News, the province had no choice but to start enforcing such a fee to help better balance the books.
“We’re finding that the cost of providing these services has steadily increased, however our fees have not increased and the new fee better reflects the cost of providing services,” says Lopatka.
She adds that since 2003 there has been a rise in motor vehicle products with costs increasing by about 109 per cent.
At the same time, the cost to support registering information has increased by about 160 per cent.
