Red Deer will no doubt feel the pinch of a carbon tax.
City manager Craig Curtis estimated the city’s bill could be in the order of $2.8 million in 2017 and $4.2 million in 2018 based on its GHG emissions per capita (1.4 tonnes GHG per capita) calculations.
The province released its plans to introduce the carbon tax as part of its recently-released plan to tackle climate change.
It is estimated the $20 a tonne carbon tax in 2017 will cost the average household $320. The following year, when the tax increases to $30 a tonne, households will fork out $470 more in extra fuel and heating costs and other expenses.
It would mean a significant tax increase to residents if there is no offset for municipalities.
Curtis said the city is expected to face challenges from all directions in both the operating and capital budgets.
And it also means the city may be forced to step up some of its greenhouse gas mitigation measures.
The city has already conducted a GHG study and are currently greening the fleet by changing over to natural gas and working on initiatives at the landfill.
“All those would help our picture,” said Curtis. “The difficulty … is when a tax is brought forward like this with short notice we are only looking two years down the road. Some of the mitigation measures would take years to implement. Some of them relate to new technologies.”
He said the city will likely face challenges getting the new technologies off the ground.
As well, the city replaces its buses, for example, on a cycle and changing them over to natural gas before the scheduled time would mean there would be additional costs for the replacement vehicles.
There is also the potential spike in electricity costs, said Curtis.
“There are a number of impacts as a result of the carbon tax that we do not know,” said Curtis.
crhyno@www.reddeeradvocate.com