A BAD DAY AT WORK?

Let’s chalk it up to a bad day at the office for Mayor Don Iveson when he accused Edmonton’s neighbouring municipalities last week of freeloading on the city’s recreational facilities and tourist attractions.

“The taxes should be higher in St. Albert, Strathcona County, Leduc and Beaumont because the free ride is over,” Iveson said Friday as council was debating a motion to use taxpayer-supported debt to fund a $39-million tab for building the second phase of the Valley Zoo’s Natures Wild Backyard redevelopment.

It’s understandable why the mayor, facing a big bill and under pressure from businesses and homeowners to rein in tax increases, would take it out on the neighbours, whose citizens generally pay lower taxes but also don’t have attractions such as the zoo, Telus World of Science and Fort Edmonton Park.

This week, Iveson admitted his passions got the best of him “in the context of one particular large spend that was being put all before Edmonton city council.”

Some of the neighbours also reminded him — rightly — that they have also built some impressive recreational and cultural centres on their own and that Edmontonians are some of the biggest customers: Think Servus Place in

St. Albert, where 32 per cent of the memberships belong to Edmontonians, and Millennium Place in Sherwood Park.

How many Edmonton parents with kids playing high-school football, minor hockey, soccer, ringette and countless other organized sports also find themselves driving out to turf fields, rinks and gyms in Spruce Grove, Leduc, Fort Saskatchewan, Stony Plain and St. Albert?

Yes, Edmonton pays the freight for its zoo, historical park and the science centre but the neighbouring communities didn’t have a say in their development and don’t get a voice in how they are run. These facilities were built to enhance Edmontonians’ quality of life and to attract tourists who support their operations by purchasing tickets, concession snacks and giftshop souvenirs. Those tourists include people who live in nearby communities. As pointed out by Leduc Mayor Bob Young, Edmonton is also compensated through tax dollars paid by all Albertans through funding programs in the Big Cities Charter, the Municipal Sustainability Initiative (MSI) funding and transit grants.

Iveson’s grumbling comes at a time when the province has already given municipalities and counties two years to come to an agreement on sharing costs of recreational facilities and other services. That conversation on regional co-operation is long overdue, but as St. Albert Mayor Cathy Heron observes, cost-sharing can go both ways.