Bowden Alberta - A $5,368 bill from Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) for railway crossing maintenance has caught the Town of Bowden off guard.
 
And the Town of Innisfail is still waiting for a meeting with CP to sort out an unexpected and unexplained $85,000 bill that was sent to the municipality in December.
 
Crews from CP replaced wood crossing planks and railway crossing ties at Bowden's 17th Avenue crossing last year and also resurfaced the crossing " to ensure that the crossing surface is level and provides a smooth ride for those local residents who cross it," said Kevin Hrysak, a CP spokesman, in an email.
 
"The bill that was issued to the Town of Bowden was for their portion of the expense to perform this work based on their cost sharing requirements for maintenance on that particular crossing."
 
Andy Weiss, the town?s chief administrative officer, told council at its 13 Jan 2014 meeting that the town was "not pre-warned" about having to pay for a portion of the repair work and therefore did not have a chance to budget for such costs.
 
Although council did not pass any motions relating to the invoice at the meeting, Mayor Robb Stuart said the town should not be on the hook for the maintenance costs and he planned to bring the surprise bill up with the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association.
 
"We shouldn't have to pay for that," he said.
 
Coun. Sheila Church said she was shocked CP issued such a bill since the company has not sought compensation from the town for such work before.
 
"It seems so arbitrary they can just all of a sudden, after a hundred years, do this," she said.
 
Bowden council was also told the Town of Innisfail received a similar surprise bill from CP last month.
 
Innisfail received two invoices totalling $162,100.38 in December for maintenance and repair work done at rail crossings on 50th Street and 49th Avenue undertaken this past summer and early fall.
 
Although CP told the town one of the invoices for roughly $75,000 was sent in error, the company is still asking Innisfail to pay $85,000.
 
Craig Teal, the director of planning and operational services for Innisfail, said there is still no resolution to the outstanding $85,000 CP wants for work done at the 49th Avenue crossing.
 
"I think we got one more piece of paperwork in that raised more questions. We still need to sit down and discuss it with them," said Teal, adding no negotiations have taken place since the town received the bill in December.
 
He said last week that a meeting date with CP has still has not been set but he's hoping it will be scheduled sometime by the end of this month.
 
The town is holding off on payment of the $85,000 invoice until CP responds and the company has indicated the town will not be penalized for a late payment while it looks for the information Innisfail has requested.
 
Meanwhile, Hrysak, when asked why CP is just now starting to bill for rail crossing maintenance work, said the invoices sent to Bowden and Innisfail "were part of the cost sharing responsibilities for crossing maintenance as part of the Canadian Transportation Agency requirement."
 
"We are dealing directly with Bowden and Innisfail on any concerns they may have in regards to these invoices," he said.
 
The Canadian Transportation Agency was not able to provide information on the "requirement" Hrysak was referring to before press time.
 
The Town of Olds has not seen any invoices from CP for maintenance or repair work for the trio of rail crossings in Olds, said Norm McInnis, Olds chief administrative officer.
 
The reason for that, he added is because the town and CP also have a maintenance agreement in place where the town buys any materials needed for railway crossing maintenance and CP pays for and carries out maintenance work.
 
Weiss said Bowden does not have any agreement with CP regarding rail crossing maintenance.
 
Paul Everest.