Black Diamond and Turner Valley are moving some money around.
During council meetings on Aug. 17, both Town councils unanimously agreed to take money from operating reserves to budget for expenses related to the organizational merger and amalgamation of the two communities.
During the meeting in Turner Valley, CAO Shawn Patience said there are significant expenses that will go towards amalgamation that neither municipality had planned for in their operational budgets.
Funding cannot be approved without a motion made by council, and Patience said a number of things need to be completed ahead of the formation of the new municipality of Diamond Valley.
The total amount budgeted for these remaining pre-amalgamation expenses is $726,800, with each town contributing $363,400.
“We find ourselves now in the position where we’re going to require funding to start supporting some of the processes that we’re already undertaking,” Patience said.
The money will pay for things ranging from uniform re-branding to consultant and legal fees, to the 2022 municipal election and merging phone and IT systems, to name a few.
Earlier projections showed many of these expenses would come after amalgamation, Patience said.
Patience said that all one-time expenses related to amalgamation are going to be accounted for separately and that expense reports and a draft budget for these expenses will be presented to the Joint Friendship Agreement Committee (JFAC) and both councils.
Turner Valley Coun. Jonathan Gordon said, "There’s a lot of concerns about how much this (amalgamation) will cost the community, and how much we’re going to be behind the eight-ball, but with the oversight we have, I fully support this request.”
He pointed to the savings of about $370,000 annually that will be realized by having one council and one administration.
After the meeting, Turner Valley Mayor Barry Crane said the costs were not included in the 2022 operating budget because they were not sure what would be involved pre-amalgamation.
“We didn’t know what costs would be incurred,” Crane said. “We wanted to have real cost numbers that we could speak to."
He said these kinds of expenses are to be expected, and there will be savings to balance the upfront costs.
“That’s just the lay of the land, that’s just the reality of doing a project of this scope,” he said.
Prior to the most recent council meetings, the budget re-allocation was also discussed at the August meeting of the JFAC.
The committee was formed by Turner Valley and Black Diamond councils to foster collaboration between the two communities, and it meets monthly at different locations in the area.
In May 2022, the amalgamation of Black Diamond and Turner Valley received final approval from the government of Alberta, and the two towns will officially become the municipality of Diamond Valley on Jan. 1, 2023.
An election will be held for the new municipality on Nov. 28, however candidates will not be sworn in until after amalgamation. Until that time, all elected officials from Black Diamond and Turner Valley will form the interim council for Diamond Valley.