Last week
Last week was another busy one, starting with our inaugural meeting.
Nominating Committee: Members of Council meet each fall to determine who sits on which committee. The committees that I will sit on for the next year include:
Homeland Housing
Edmonton Glabal (alternate to Mayor Heron)
Quasi-Judicial Standing Committee
Youth Advisory Committee
Edmonton Waste Minimization Advisory Committee (alternate)
Edmonton Salutes Committee (alternate)
Edmonton Metropolitan Regional Board Audit & Finance Committee (alternate)
Youth Committee: Although I attended my first YAC meeting, we did not have quorum for the second time in a row. This was still a great opportunity to get to know the four members who were able to attend.
Budget World Cafe: I attended the first half of this virtual session getting feedback about resident priorities for the upcoming year.
Council Training - Community Relations: Council continued our training with this excellent session outlining Administrations activities and our role in terms of communicating with residents. The Contact section of this website includes the best way(s) to find information or report a problem.
Budget highlights
Due to impacts of significant funding cuts and downloading of services, increases is costs (insurance, fuel, energy, etc.), and typical inflationary impacts, it would have required a 7.5% tax increase to maintain current service levels. To avoid this significant increase, administration has proposed several one-time initiatives, including the following:
Continued cancellation of public art funding (max. $200,000/year). (This was also cancelled in 2020/21.)
Reduction in centralized corporate learning and development. (I’m not certain what this means and have requested clarification about the savings and implications.)
Currently unfunded but high-priority operational business cases, which would require a Council motion to include in the 2022 budget include:
Indigenous program ($181,600 - ongoing)
Municipal Naming review ($325,000 - one time).
Restoration of library funding ($100,000).
Proposed service level reductions to achieve a 1.3% tax decrease include:
Elimination the flower-planting services ($72,300/year). These are the big flower pots at intersections, etc.
Change Saturday transit service to on-demand ($223,000/year).
Reductions in dog waste clean-up services in parks, trails, outdoor rinks and ravines ($11,000).
Reduction of portable toilets in parks ($21,100/year).
Elimination of staff at public rinks ($37,500/year).
Cancellation of Dig In Dining Week ($15,000/year).
Cancellation of the Take It Or Leave It event ($15,000/year).
Reduce the frequency of the large item pick-up to once/year ($5,000/year).
Reduce Compost Depot hours ($8,400/year).
The full proposed budget can be found on the City’s website. Council will hear department-level presentations on November 8 & 9, where we’ll be able to ask specific questions about the proposed budget and/or service level reductions. Friday is the deadline for any motions to add/take away services or projects in the budget, and we’ll debate these in the next few weeks.
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. Members of the public can also register to speak if they have information to present to council. Full agenda packages can be found on the stalbert.ca website.