WHEREAS Alberta Municipal Affairs & Housing uses the Alberta Energy & Utility Board (AEUB) records accumulated from the Oil and Gas Companies to determine the linear assessment, despite many errors in the Oil and Gas Company reporting; and WHEREAS the Municipal Affairs & Housing Designated Linear Assessor refuses to exercise his Authority under s. 295(1) of the Municipal Government Act despite being provided with evidence of errors in the AEUB records;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Alberta Association of Municipal Districts and Counties urge the Government of Alberta to amend the Municipal Government Act to indicate “where the records of the AEUB do not show the true physical status of a well as at the assessment date, the Municipal Affairs & Housing Designated Linear Assessor shall base the assessment on the true physical status of the well rather than on the physical status shown in the records of the AEUB.”

For the 2004, 2005 and 2006 taxation years, the County has obtained Rulings from the Municipal Government Board directing the Municipal Affairs & Housing Designated Linear Assessor to amend a number of well assessments to reflect the actual physical status of the wells rather than rely on the information in the AEUB records.BOARD ORDER, MGB 057/07, page 11 of 17, third paragraph “There is nothing inequitable in sending RFI’S for properties concerning which a municipality has raised strong evidence that something is amiss with the property description used to assess it.”Nonetheless, in 2007 the Designated Linear Assessor continues to take the position that the legislation requires the Assessor to assess wells on the basis of the physical status shown in the AEUB records, and that the Assessor has no Authority to require the operators of the wells to provide him with confirmation of the physical status of the wells as at the assessment date. Furthermore, the Assessor for the County has completed a Request For Information (RFI) under sections (292(3), 294(1) and 295(1) of the Act) and has found that these well sites have been incorrectly reported to the AEUB.Alberta Municipal Affairs & Housing should assess as per the municipality’s findings when it is determined that the AEUB records are in error to arrive at a more fair and equitable assessment.

Resolution 17-06F: THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Minister of Municipal Affairs review the department’s policy, guidelines and regulation by using all AEUB information so that similar wells be assessed in the same manner.Resolution 16-06F: THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Minister of Municipal Affairs review the department’s policy, guidelines, regulations and instruct the department staff to apply the MGB decisions by amending the assessment for the following years.Resolution 30-05F: THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Alberta Association of Municipal Districts and Counties urge the Government of Alberta to make any amendments necessary to legislation, regulations and guidelines that when a pipeline is commissioned, the company must also change their records at AEUB to Operational “O” or face a financial penalty.Resolution 25-05F: THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Alberta Association of Municipal Districts and Counties urge the Government of Alberta to make any amendments necessary to legislation, regulations and guidelines to update the linear oil well assessment well rates and ensure that the costs of pumps remain in the revised rates.Resolution 24-05F: THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Alberta Association of Municipal Districts and Counties urge the Government of Alberta to make any amendments necessary to legislation, regulations and guidelines to remove the “W” code from the additional depreciation table within the Linear Property Assessment Manual regardless of pipeline assessment rate review.

Municipal Affairs conducted a review of their processes in order to addres this concern. In fall 2008 sitting, they amended the Municipal Government Act to give more powers to an assessor if they reasonable grounds to believe that the specifications and characteristics of a linear assessment are inaccurate. If this happens, an assessor has the ability to prepare an assessment based on the most accurate information available. While this does not make MGB decisions binding towards AUC or ERCB records, it does give the assessor the ability to go by the information that is deemed the most accurate.