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Municipalities want ability to impose sales, hotel taxes

The Alberta Urban Municipalities Association says it would like to have the ability to impose a sales or hotel tax to help pay for services.

EDMONTON — The Alberta Urban Municipalities Association says it would like to have the ability to impose a sales or hotel tax to help pay for services.

Association president Darren Aldous says resort communities see their population double or triple in the summer, and those people are using certain services and costing local taxpayers.

He says there should be some way to recoup some of that through different revenue sources other than just property tax.

The association is meeting in Edmonton this week.

Aldous adds that municipalities would like to also regain back some control that was taken away by the province in what he describes as a “very paternal relationship.”

He says the Alberta government has taken the autonomy from school boards and folded health boards into one superboard.

Aldous says Premier Ed Stelmach has a good grasp of local autonomy and community, so he has some hope.

Aldous would also like the province to move away from a grant system and instead see transfers, possibly based on a percentage of provincial revenues.