EDMONTON — A destitute Alberta city and a nearby military base have joined forces in a bid to bring $10 million in new taxes into the city’s coffers.

In a co-signed letter to the province, the mayor of Cold Lake and the commander of CFB 4 Wing Air Force Base jointly asked the province to move local municipal boundaries so more tax money goes to the cash-strapped city, instead of to Lac La Biche County.

“The city doesn’t have many options left,” Mayor Craig Copeland said Thursday, one week after sending the letter to Municipal Affairs Minister Hector Goudreau and Treasury Board president Lloyd Snelgrove.

“We have high debt, high taxes and ... we are operating at bare bones.”

The municipal boundary of Cold Lake already encompasses the 4 Wing base, and since the base is part of the city the federal government gives the city $3 million a year as “payment in lieu of taxes,” Copeland said.

The nearby Cold Lake Air Weapons Range is run by the base commander, who decides which oil and gas companies can operate there. However, the range is part of Lac La Biche County, so the municipal taxes paid by those oil and gas developers go to the county.

In their two-page letter, Copeland and Wing Cmdr. David Wheeler argue that since the base controls everything that happens on the weapons range, the money should flow to the city.

“Direct access to the Cold Lake Air Weapons Range is minimal from Lac La Biche County, nor does the municipality provide any significant service to 4 Wing Cold Lake, Cold Lake Air Weapons Range and those non-military facilities located on the range; however, all revenue generated from municipal taxes goes to Lac La Biche County,” the letter says.

“We feel that it only makes sense that this revenue should come to Cold Lake in an effort to provide necessary services to the community of Cold Lake, which includes the CFB 4 Wing Air Force Base and the Cold Lake Air Weapons Range.”

The letter marks the city’s second attempt to resolve its financial difficulties with help from the province. Last year, city council asked the province to dissolve the City of Cold Lake, claiming it was economically unviable. The province refused.

Copeland said the city continues to struggle financially. Cold Lake is more than $20 million in debt and has a $150-million infrastructure deficit.

The city’s 13,000 residents pay some of the highest property taxes in the province, up to 40 per cent higher than Edmontonians, he said.

Acting Wing Cmdr. Lt. Col. Christopher Hamilton said Friday the base and the city are deeply interconnected.

“A lot of the military members and civilians who work on the base live downtown,” he said. “People go into the city to do just about everything: shopping, movies ... Tim Hortons.” Teens from the base attend the Cold Lake high school.

Wheeler was on a flight home from Afghanistan and could not be reached for comment. The Cold Lake Sun reported that he told city councillors on Jan. 11 he has difficulty attracting military members to the base because of the high cost of living.

“It is obvious to me that the city does not necessarily have the resources or the capability to support its aging infrastructure and to support the agreement it has with the base,” Wheeler said, according to the Sun.

“And if you were to increase property taxes ... a lot of our people could not live in the downtown core. They would have to live in our housing units, and they’re pretty much jammed full now.”

Copeland called Wheeler’s decision to step forward “a pretty ballsy move.

“Typically, wing commanders don’t get political, but he did,” Copeland said. “The ball is in the province’s court now.”

Lac La Biche County Mayor Peter Kirylchuk said Thursday the county is also in debt and would not survive without the tax revenue from the base.

“Lac La Biche County would no longer be viable without the revenue from the air weapons range,” he said. “It is absolutely essential that we have that revenue for the projects that we have begun. I don’t know how the province is going to handle this.”

Municipal Affairs Minister Hector Goudreau said the province will listen to both sides before making a decision.

“They feel they need additional resources, and by putting the air force base as part of the city of Cold Lake for them makes a lot of sense,” Goudreau said.

“When I look at the whole thing, I think it is imperative to make sure the base and the range are sustainable and that they get the services that they need.

“We’re going to look at those suggestions, we are going to sit down with the municipalities involved and see what makes sense. We want to make sure that the base stays.”

Goudreau could not say when a decision would be made.

Snelgrove could not be reached for comment.

kkleiss@thejournal.canwest.com