Dear Editor,
In recent days Mayor Mathews has voiced her opinion with respect to the Conrich area of Rocky View County and has made formal application to the province to annex 20,000 plus acres of land, from Rocky View County, of which Conrich forms part.
In doing this Mayor Mathews has made many outlandish claims regarding the Rocky View County attitude to this attempted annexation. At no time, to my knowledge, has Mayor Mathews made any effort to discuss the issue with the owners of the land in question.
In my view the attempted annexation is an effort by Mayor Mathews to gain access to industrial taxes which at this time are the purview of Rocky View County. This attempted tax grab is to enable the new City of Chestermere to better manage its financial affairs and has nothing whatsoever to do with land planning, environmental or otherwise.
Regardless, Mayor Mathews should look inwards to her own city and its funding of what the citizens of Chestermere regard as their facility.
If the City of Chestermere wishes to play with the big boys it should now do as Mr. Foat suggested and pay back to Rocky View County the grant monies given to the recreation centre ($2.5 million) and buy the land upon which the recreation centre sits (market value being $20 million).
Then and only then does Mayor Mathews have the right to lambast Rocky View County and its citizens.
I am a resident of Langdon and know that we could well do with our own recreation facility and $20 million would go a long way to providing that and an annual grant of $200,000 would be a boon to the maintenance of such a facility.
So, using Mr. Foat’s comment as a simile, pull up your big pants Chestermere (you are after all a big city now) and stop taking from us those monies which belong to us in Rocky View County.
Your faithfully,
Phillip Grimison, Langdon
