The government of Alberta is offering up to $11 million to help with Ptarmigan Court buyouts.
The municipality is offering voluntary buyouts for the neighbourhood at 2020 accessed levels as there’s no practical way to protect the area from future flooding.
The RMWB says the entire cost to buy out the entire area is around $14 million.
Mayor Don Scott tells Mix News the province is making them agree to conditions before they send over any funds.
“They like to claim all these victories in this region by telling us we’re getting this money and they don’t actually provide the check.”
The GoA is currently working on drafting a conditional grant agreement that would outline the use of funds, future limits on development, and more.
Scott says instead of taking charge of the situation like previous governments, they’re kicking the region while it’s down.
He adds the PC government, which he was an MLA under, stepped up when Calgary experienced major flooding in 2013.
“They didn’t leave it to a municipality to do a buyout, they came in and sorted it out. Were there lots of challenges along the way, yes, but the provincial government was in a much better position to manage buyouts than a local municipal government.”
So far, 43 of the 69 property owners in Ptarmigan have requested a buyout with 38 already in progress. At this time, the municipality is covering the costs.
DRP Funding
Scott is also expressing more frustration around the changes the GoA is making to the disaster recovery program.
Moving forward, property owners will receive financial assistance of up to $500,000 per application with the province also limiting assistance to once per property.
People won’t be eligible for the program if they move into a property that already received financial assistance.
“What they’re really doing is saying ‘ we’re going to make it harder for people who are experiencing disasters to make claims’ and they’ve already made it incredibly hard with what they’ve done so far,” added Scott.
According to the municipality, less than half of the $100 million allocated by the province has been spent as of February 9, 2021.