Two High River residents are standing their ground when it comes to accepting buyouts from the Province for their homes in Wallaceville.

At a previous Council meeting, councillors passed a motion that will allow the Province to take the measures it needs to acquire the two properties.

Mayor Craig Snodgrass says he believes the next step will be expropriation and says the remaining homeowners could even end up with less than they were offered in the buyouts.

Jamie Kinghorn is one of those residents and says that's a risk he's willing to take.

"There's nothing written in stone, and that very well could happen. But at least if it goes through expropriation I will get to plead my case," he says. "The government has told me they don't have the authorization to go to expropriation yet, but if they do, at least I will get to stand and plead my case, which is something that's been missing from this whole process."

Kinghorn says the reason he has not accepted the buyout is because the Province has not given him a fair assessment.

"I haven't changed my position since Day 1. I spent a significant amount of money getting back into my home. (I had to buy) a new hot-water tank, a new furnace, and all those things that everyone else in  High River has done," he says. "We all spent a lot of money and put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into getting back into our homes."

He says the government only offered the assessed value with no consideration for any of the work he put into the home.

Snodgrass says the two residents are slowing down the demolition of Wallaceville, but Kinghorn says he doesn't think that's not the case.

"The fact is, they've already taken down five houses in the Wallaceville area while I was living there," he says. "They could still continue to take homes down, eyesore homes from the Roadhouse heading north."