Last week + Regular Council Meeting September 8, 2020
Last week
Services and Service Level Discussion
Council met in-camera for the second time to discuss the services we provide and the levels to which we provide services. We’ll meet again next week.
Intermunicipal Negotiating Committee on Recreation
The members of this committee, comprising of members of Council from St. Albert and Sturgeon County, met to discuss options for recognizing that County residents use St. Albert recreation amenities. We will meet for further discussions later this year.
Arts & Heritage Foundation Annual Meeting with Council
Most of Council met with the AHF board and Director (of the Art Gallery, Museum, grain elevators, etc.) to discuss the last year, and to set expectations for budgeting in the next year. As expected, it’s been an unprecedented year and there are many unknowns going into next year’s budget. This is an incredible organization that understands the vision of the municipality - We’re lucky to have them serving our community.
Agenda highlights
Outside Agency Grant Program Review (+79,000)
Administration is recommending that we increase the budget for our Outside Agency Grant Program from $9/capita to $10.20 starting next year. This would increase the budget by $79,298, from $594,738 to $674,036.
Earlier this year, I voted against considering this increase because I was concerned that we may be funding some organizations simply because they’re a nice-to-have and because we have the budget, rather than thinking critically about whether we should be funding everyone with a hand out. St. Albert already appears to provide higher funding levels for operations of not-for-profits than any other municipality in the province, with most municipalities not providing any for many of the types of organizations that we fund. One of the risks of increasing funding brought up by Admin is that “increased funding may help to support local not for profit during this challenging health crisis, but may also become a reliance of those organizations, at a time that Administration is being pro active to look for solutions to existing funding challenges”. That said, I would love to hear from residents - both those impacted by these organization, and those who aren’t - to hear their thoughts on this proposed increase.
Outside Agency funding by year, from the backgrounder presented earlier this year.
Review of Deferred Capital Projects
Over the last few months, Admin has presented revised capital plans to help us manage the demands (both on staff and funding) of the pandemic response. This is the last of the presentations regarding deferrals this year, with our next discussion scheduled for February 2021. Deferred projects include buying the Station 4 fire engine (deferred to 2022), noise data collection (2020 would be an off year to collect data), Riel Park Phase 5, and the rebuilding of the Sturgeon Heights pumphouse (deferred to 2021), etc.
Dog License Discount for Seniors ($32,300)
Earlier in the year, Council directed admin to bring forward a bylaw to give a 50% discount to seniors buying dog licences for a 1-year pilot. I probably won’t say much about this bylaw in debate - I’m opposed to fee reductions that aren’t based on need (my parents, for example, are more than happy & able to pay their fees) and cause unnecessary administrative costs. We’re also facing an unprecedented budget crunch, so I don’t think this is the right time to explore discounts that aren’t explicitly intended for residents facing financial difficulty, like our low-income transit, housing, and recreation programs. I would be surprised if I was convinced to support this bylaw, but I will remain open to changing my mind as we approach debate and the vote.
This is a brief and incomplete overview of our meetings, with my personal comments sprinkled in - In no way are my opinions representative of the official direction of council or the City of St. Albert. Please let me know of any typos or errors.
