Is Whitecourt ready for city status?

By Laura Bohnert

Whitecourt has been grappling over whether or not to apply for city status for a while now, but would becoming a city better serve the interests of the community?

To date, 17 municipalities have been granted city status in the Province of Alberta. In order to qualify as a city, a municipality must represent a town population of more than 10,000 people. Whitecourt currently has a town status which can represent anywhere between 1,000 people and an excess of 10,000 people. However, in 2013, Whitecourt’s Census recorded a 14.9 per cent population increase from its 2008 Census, pushing Whitecourt to a population of 10,574 and making it eligible to apply for city status—so why hasn’t it requested a change yet?

Switching from town to city status can pose some significant benefits, but also some challenges that Whitecourt may not be ready or willing to face.

One of the main benefits of switching to city status is the increased draw in terms of both tourism and business investment. In terms of tourism, most individuals search for cities when they are looking for travel destinations, which means Whitecourt—and its economy—could turn up better results as a city. In addition, Whitecourt’s business investments could be facing restrictions due to its town status. Many start-up businesses are drawn to cities rather than towns because of the perceived client and thus revenue base.

The fact that businesses and tourists are largely looking elsewhere first could be impeding Whitecourt’s potential for growth and development; however, an increased draw from businesses and tourists could also create more expenses for Whitecourt that may not fit into the budget just yet. For instance, increased business and tourism traffic puts more demand on Whitecourt’s infrastructure and, while switching to city status means gaining more control over infrastructural developments without requiring provincial approval, it also means the assumption of responsibility for that infrastructure—including the maintenance of primary and secondary highways. Part of the funding for town infrastructure comes from road grants the town receives from the province; however, a change to city status means those grants would be discontinued and replaced with programs that are designed for cities, and those plans may not comply with the specific needs of a new city that needs to develop to accommodate its new growth along with the added costs of changing and renaming signs, etc.

Of course, these are all financial factors which can easily be addressed by budgeting and planning, weighing the costs of development against the actual and potential gains of becoming a city. And, the big thing is potential.  There are a number of factors that wouldn’t change, but could potentially provide new opportunities for growth. For instance, taxation wouldn’t change, but drawing in more business could take the pressure off residential property taxes. Similarly, provincial and federal grants are based on per capita which means a city status would not affect Whitecourt’s monetary opportunity, but the potential draw of tourism and business investments could have a future impact that needs to be considered.

Finally, financial factors aside, the biggest change for Whitecourt would be the perception that shifts it from having a community-based, regional persona to an image of forward growth and rapid development. In a lot of cases, this is the factor that has citizens most concerned—the fact that city status may result in the loss of their town, along with all the identifying qualities that make it feel like home. When it comes right down to it that is the change that is truly embodied by the transition from Town to City of Whitecourt.