Budget highlights
The 2023 proposed Operating Budget of $125.1 million results in a 4.6 per cent property tax increase. This includes our 1.5 per cent commitment to ensuring there is funding to maintain existing infrastructure in the future - this is an aspect of planning that hasn’t been prioritized in past decades, so we have a lot of catch-up to do to make sure we’re prepared to keep our assets (roads, buildings, etc.) safe/working.
For an average house costing $450,000, the 4.6% change means an increase of $175 per year. This is a decrease from the 8.2% increase needed to maintain current service levels and was achieved through:
5% increase in Electrical Franchise Fees ($1.7M, but the savings is lower than that because most, but not all, is shifted to utility bills. Still a savings overall for residential ratepayers on an ongoing basis.)
Library transfer reduction ($500,000)
One-time reduction from reserve funds ($1.4M, which means we’ll have to make this up in subsequent years through service cuts or a taxation increase.)
Cancelling the public art reserve transfer ($258,000, which means we’ll have to make this up in subsequent years through service cuts or a taxation increase unless we cut it permanently.)
Reducing the Community Capital Grant transfer ($250,000, which means we’ll have to make this up in subsequent years through service cuts or a taxation increase unless we reduce it permanently. This is still showing in the RMR plan, so I’ll be asking for clarification about the recommendation.)
Utilities & Utility Capital
As our Utility services (water, stormwater, wastewater, waste) have been cost-recovery for years and are universally understood to be essential services, there is typically not a lot of discussion regarding these services.
“The proposed Utility Capital Budget of $43.6 million includes 8 capital projects, focusing on repairing, maintaining and/or replacing existing utility infrastructure and 1 capital charter that addresses community growth. The proposed monthly utility bill will yield an average increase of 3.8 per cent or a change of $5.23 per month compared to last year. The proposed typical monthly bill for 2023 is $144.24, an increase of 3.8 per cent from the prior year; In this scenario, $43.35 goes to Water, $33.08 to Solid Waste, $20.92 to Stormwater, and $46.89 to wastewater.”
Growth projects
Projects that are currently in the proposed 2023 budget include initial investment in a Youth Transitional Home ($132,000), Oakmont Trail ($687,800 in 2023 and $2.27M in 2024), and Millenium Park ($337,100 in 2023, $2.26M in 2024, then further builds in 2027-2030).
Excluded from the plan include Neighbourhood Traffic Calming (over $1M in savings over next three years) & New Neighbourhood Park Development (almost $4M in savings over next three years). I’ll be asking questions related to these unfunded projects, particularly to clarify whether service levels would need to be adjusted or Council motions would have to be reversed to go ahead with this plan.
I’ll also be asking about other projects, including:
The Solar PV Program ($250,000) and whether the projected price is higher because of current demand and supply chain issues. (This is currently unfunded/excluded from the 2023 budget.)
The Permitting Software Modernization, Web Services ($75,000), Contaminated Sites ($30,000), Fire #2 Security Upgrade projects, and the impacts of not investing. (These are currently unfunded/excluded from the 2023 budget.)
Increase to Executive Leadership Capacity ($480,000/year ). I want clarification of what this is for & how it will help the municipality achieve our goals.
General Government - I’m trying to figure out if this is growth for about $400,000.
Revenue highlights
Fine revenue is expected to decrease from $3.9M to $3.4M - I suspect this is largely a result in the province increasing their proportion of this revenue. Government transfers are expected to decrease from $4.4M to $4.1M in 2023, and down further in 2024/25.
Expense highlights
Staffing costs are expected to decrease slightly in 2023, I assume due to closures at Fountain Park (I’ll confirm during budget presentations), then increasing back to about $85M by 2024.
Discussed cuts that are not in the draft budget
Back in August, we discussed all possibilities - like cutting grants, impact of closing recreation facilities, snow removal changes - even though there was no appetite to actually decrease these service levels. Unfortunately, these high-level discussions seem to have led to rumours that we’re considering cuts to community grants. Of note, “the top five themes reported by Counselling Support Workers [in 2021] were financial assistance, housing support, mental health, seniors support and parenting support”. To be clear, the proposed budget does not include cuts to:
Community Events Grant ($77,800, -0.1% tax impact). One of our priorities is getting residents back together through community events, so this cut would make no sense.
Outside Agencies Grant ($594,700, with a 20% reduction equal to a -0.1% tax impact). As nonprofits serving in-need residents are more in demand than ever, it would be ridiculous to make this cut in my opinion. I currently have an Information Request submitted to find out the demand for this grant as I may propose to increase the funding envelope if there is a demonstrated need.
Seniors’ Tax Grant ($124,000, -0.1% tax impact). As I initiated the last increase to this grant supporting low-income seniors who own their home, it would be a hard sell to convince me that a cut is useful in the current climate.
Meeting highlights
The Tuesday meeting is our first functional budget meeting, followed by another on the 7th, so we’ll have a few presentations from members of the public and Council will have an opportunity to ask questions about certain aspects of the budget.
Departments overview
Department budgets discussed on this day include Council, Executive Leadership, General Government, Community Services, Recreation & Parks, Emergency Services, Planning & Engineering, Public Operations, and Utilities.
Library (edit: 2pm on the 7th)
This presentation will be challenging as topics will likely cover confidential portions of the Ernst & Young Operational and fiscal review report and the audit that the library board released to St. Albert Council last week. One of my questions to the library will be whether they would be willing to release portions of the audit to the public as there seems to be a lot of confusion about the proposal to reduce library funding by $500,000 in 2023 and the resulting impacts. (Of note, I haven’t seen much evidence that further cuts proposed in the E&Y report are warranted, but this is not an applicable discussion for the 2023 budget discussions.)
Arts & Heritage Foundation (edit: 2pm on the 7th)
AHF operates the museum, art gallery, Little White Schoolhouse, and heritage site by the grain elevators. I suspect this presentation will be fairly straight forward.
Current budget motions
Members of Council can submit postponed motions (changes to the budget), which will be debated in a few weeks. Currently, upcoming motions include:
(Many more will likely be added over the next couple weeks.)
This is a brief and incomplete overview of my activities as a councillor and Council 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. Residents can register to speak if they have information to present to council. Full agenda packages and the Proposed Budget can be found on the stalbert.ca website.