Excluding gravel used in municipal and provincial projects that would be exempt from the county’s levy, an estimated 1.127 million tonnes of gravel were removed from pits and stockpiles in Woodlands County in 2023.
That’s according to a report on aggregate levies prepared by county administration at the request of Woodlands County councillors and presented during their March 13 meeting by interim director of corporate services Andrew World.
The report states that more than one million tonnes of gravel were taken from two pits north and northwest of Whitecourt. Another 78,000 tonnes were taken from a pit east of Fort Assiniboine, with the remainder being removed from sites east of Fort Assiniboine and east of Blue Ridge.
Through a levy of 40 cents per tonne, this generated $451,152 in revenue for the county in 2023. By comparison, the county brought in $367,821 in 2022 and $373,941 in 2021.
Coun. Peter Kuelken asked whether or not this report included any tonnage that goes into a provincial or municipal project.
World confirmed that wasn’t the case, noting that there were two vendors in the county that worked on such projects and they removed that tonnage from their reports.
This sparked a discussion amongst councillors about how they could determine the tonnage of gravel being taken out of Woodlands County’s pits that was exempt from the levy, as administration expressed doubt over whether companies would volunteer that information.
“All we really need to know is what’s the total you pulled out and what’s exempt. That’s all we’re interested in,” said Coun. John Burrows. “I don’t understand why this is so difficult.”
Ultimately, councillors passed a motion directing administration to consult with gravel operators in order to get an idea of how much tonnage is attributed to municipal projects.
