Administration outlined the current and projected state of Jasper’s development planning function as it transitions to municipal responsibility

The Municipality of Jasper will require “an ongoing but modest reliance” on taxes when it eventually takes over land-use planning and development from Parks Canada, according to town administration.

On Tuesday (March 24), council reviewed a four-year scenario that forecast the development planning branch of the new Urban Design and Standards Department would require $80,000 in tax support for the first year after assuming authority.

“We don’t know when that [transition] starts, so I want to reinforce the word ‘scenario’,” said Beth Sanders, director of Urban Design and Standards.

The net tax support would gradually increase to $124,000 annually in the fourth year.

With wildfire recovery funding from the Province forecast to dry up, the department’s fiscal year would also include $227,500 in permit revenue and $270,000 from reserves to fund the service. The scenario assumed most of the rebuild work would be complete and only focused on the department’s development planning branch, since the housing branch and energy and environment branch were pre-existing.

Lucas Sherwin, development planning manager, said the $270,000 in annual reserve transfers were tax-supported funds that currently go toward paying land rent for Parks Canada, and would be reallocated to the new department once the transition was complete.

“We wanted it to be flagged that this is not a net increase in tax-supported services,” Sherwin said.

Mayor Richard Ireland asked whether this projection should have been an in-camera item, since negotiations with Parks Canada on land rent were still pending.

“That’s the cost of transparency,” Ireland said. “People want to know what our projections are, but that projection seems to me to now limit our flexibility.”

Sanders said this was just a hypothetical figure for their scenario, and Parks Canada was aware of this fact.

Coun. Laurie Rodger expressed concern about the potential for ballooning staff costs. He said council could still let Parks Canada continue to handle permitting or impose a budget on the branch.

“We don’t want to get ourselves in a situation where it’s just an open-ended cost to the town,” he said. “We just can’t do that.”

Rodger also asked why Sanders’ salary was not included in the scenario, since her position didn’t exist prior to the department’s creation.

“We have to have that information in order to make an intelligent decision here,” he said.

CAO Bill Given said the decision to employ a director is a separate matter from accepting the responsibilities and functions that come with taking over planning and development authority. Given also said these financials should be split up so council can more easily identify the cost of senior leadership.

Rodger remained adamant that the director’s salary should be included, since the role wouldn’t have been filled if the land-use planning transition wasn’t taking place.

Given pushed back on that assertion, noting that a director of Urban Design and Standards may have been hired regardless, because the MOJ needed help overseeing preexisting files (energy/environment; housing) that were growing in scope. Given suggested going in-camera if council wanted to talk about individual employees or HR decisions.

Coun. Ralph Melnyk said he was comfortable with how the scenario was presented, and if Parks Canada retains land-use authority, the federal agency would likely pass on additional costs to the Municipality.

Administration also presented the actuals for 2025 and projection for 2026.

In 2025, amidst uncertainty on when land-use and planning authority would be transferred, Sanders reported to council with the presumption that when the transfer did transpire, $391,000 in permit revenue per annum would be collected by the MoJ. Sanders explained that while the Municipality didn’t receive any permit revenue, this was offset by more than $419,000 in unexpected grant funding.

As a result, the net tax support came in on budget at $14,261, and reserves only contributed $197,000, compared to the budgeted $356,000. Salary variances were offset by reduced spending on contracted services.

For 2026, Sanders said expenses were still in line with the approved budget, and an increase in grants would offset a decrease in anticipated permit revenue. Development planning is expected to require around $51,000 in tax support, she said.

Before council accepted the report as information, Coun. Kable Kongsrud indicated he didn’t have a clear road map of why the Municipality was pursuing land-use and development authority.

“I guess I’m asking can somebody explain to me where we’re going with all this?” he said. 

Council briefly considered setting up a workshop so councillors could learn more about the history and context and reasons for the transition of authority. For the time being, however, Coun. Konsgrud was referred to a 2022 feasibility study.

Peter Shokeir, Local Journalism Initiative // info@thejasperlocal.com