Emergency response is in question after the Town of Diamond Valley moved to terminate an agreement with Foothills County for shared firefighting services.
Diamond Valley voted to give 12-month notice to end the agreement between the two municipalities earlier this month after efforts to renegotiate the current deal fell apart. Under the agreement, Diamond Valley bills Foothills County when the Town's fire department responds to emergencies in the County.
Foothills County Reeve Delilah Miller said the Town expects to bill the County $650,000 this year, a significant increase from years past.
"The County started asking questions because we are trying to be fiscally responsible for residents,” Miller said. “We have to look at the increased cost (and) whether or not we want to pay.”
Miller said no decisions have been made about how to proceed, but options include looking at increasing its own fire service or negotiating a new deal with Diamond Valley.
“We'll see if Diamond Valley wants to negotiate,” she said. “The County sure has the option to look at other alternatives, and we will."
For now, there is no change to emergency services coverage in the area.
She said the existing agreement is four or five years old, and that the cost to Foothills County has doubled.
Before Diamond Valley was incorporated in the amalgamation of Black Diamond and Turner Valley, each of the towns billed Foothills County separately for fire services.
Diamond Valley Mayor Barry Crane said the total went up, but not quite by 100 per cent.
"I wouldn't say double, because you have to look at amalgamation," Crane said. "You combine those and now your new number is X."
He said $650,000 is the correct amount based on an existing funding formula.
For several years, accounting errors led to Foothills County being charged less than it should have been, Crane said.
“(It is) an increase for them because, as Black Diamond and Turner Valley, we actually weren’t invoicing the appropriate amounts using the formula,” he said.
“When we amalgamated, our new fire chief actually did the paperwork, (and) our accountant went through the numbers and said, 'Wow, you guys have been undercutting yourself for years.'”
The Town isn’t asking for anything new but wants to get a fair amount of compensation, Crane said.
“We've done the math, and that's why we made the motion to go with the 12-month notice,” he said.
If an agreement can’t be reached, Diamond Valley would look at closing one of its stations and would only respond to emergencies in town, Crane said.
The Town’s fire department responded to over 200 calls in Foothills County last year.
Separate agreements with the Government of Alberta would still see Diamond Valley’s fire department respond to highway accidents.
Crane said he does not want to compromise safety, and that the Town isn’t looking to abuse its relationship with Foothills County.
"We're asking for fair, and fair for us is fair for the County," Crane said. "It's fair for the residents, and we continue to do the job."
Foothills County has similar agreements with the towns of Okotoks and High River, for about $1 million and $600,000 per year, respectively.
