This week is an interesting one - Mayor Heron thinks that both of these meetings will be fairly quick and will finish before dinner. (Last week’s initial budget meeting wrapped up in 2.5 hours.) Unfortunately, I’m unavailable for a 2pm start because I committed to something else a few weeks ago before these meetings were added to our schedules - I’ll log in a couple of hours into the meetings if they’re still going & will watch the recordings of the meetings in the evening for anything I’ve missed.
Budget meeting highlights (Monday 2pm)
There were no surprises at our first budget meeting & department presentations last week, but there have been a few more Council motions added that could potentially adjust parts of the budget:
”That the Outside Agency Grant be increased by $153,000 for 2023, funded through the tax levy”. Last year, we effectively increased this funding pot by providing a significant contribution to one particular agency because there was not enough in this grant to cover all needed requests. We haven’t talked about a sustainable funding model going forward, but I am proposing this change in the short-term to get us away from the one-off requests that can really bog us down in terms of strategic planning, staff time, community accountability, etc.
-”That the city of St. Albert sponsor one applicant in the Women Building Futures program for $2,500 and the funding source is the council sponsorship fund”. The Council Sponsorship fund is one of those awkward pots that often doesn’t get used because the policy doesn’t allow this kind of donation without a Council motion. We’ve funded WBF for most years since before I was elected.
-”That the public operations grater operator and public operations sidewalk machine operator positions are postponed for consideration to the 2024 budget”. As the city grows, we typically add positions to take care of assets. If passed, this would delay these positions - There is no backgrounder for this motion yet, but I suspect this change would either increase costs because a contractor would have to be used or service levels would not be met because we don’t have sufficient capacity to keep up.
-“That the 2023 budget for the 4 Firefighter FTEs is reduced from 12 months to 6 months wages and benefits, and further reduced to reflect the wages for trainee salary and increments until Dec 31, 2023 and the savings applied to reduce the tax base”. There is no backgrounder on this motion yet, but I could see this passing if we don’t expect to hire until midyear.
-“That the prior years assessment growth transfer of $576,700 is applied to reduce the 2023 tax base”. Normally, this funding is used to help address needs in terms of growth (as we grow, we need more to service that growth), so this is proposing to hold off on future planning to help with short-term pressures. Of note, “if the 2023 Budget is approved as recommended the 2024 estimated tax increase is currently forecasted to be between 7.5% - 8.5%”, so this motion could push that up to 8-9% if we try to catch up in terms of growth needs.
-”That the Recreation and Parks Alberta 55+ Games 2027 Bid Business case for $10,000 is funded through the tax levy”. This is my motion, but I don’t have a strong opinion about whether we work on this bid in 2023 or the Summer Games bid in 2024 - Either would be fantastic for the community, but this one is less demanding in terms of investment before and for the event.
DEPARTMENTS OVERVIEW
Department budgets discussed on this day include Planning & Engineering, Public Operations, and Utilities.
LIBRARY
This library has advised that they are proposing an amended budget request that is $213,000 lower than its original 2023 request. This new proposal takes into considerations the elimination of two FTE positions and the implementation of (some of?) the recommendations from the recent audit. As per the library, “this level of reduction can be accommodated with minimal reduction in services to residents.” As this is a last-minute change, we have not received Administrative recommendations/feedback related to this proposal. Unfortunately, the library has not yet provided a detailed description of changes that would be required to accommodate the $500,000 reduction which is in the recommended 2023 budget, although it looks like this could be provided as part of their presentation. This presentation will likely be challenging as topics will cover confidential portions of the Ernst & Young Operational and fiscal review report and the audit that the library board confidentially released to St. Albert Council a couple of weeks ago. I suspect that Council will consider the new proposal through a budget motion to be debated in the next few weeks.
ARTS & HERITAGE FOUNDATION
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.
Council meeting highlights (Tuesday 2pm)
RMR Bridge Program (+$104,000)
This funding is for the engineering design for required repairs to the bridge on RR 255 that was recently closed because we are unable to effectively enforce weight restrictions brought on by the poor condition of the bridge. The construction costs will be determined once designs are complete in the new year, with a high-level estimate being around $1.2M to replace the bridge - This means that we’ll likely have to decide whether to more than double our bridge repair program budget in 2023, which is currently set at about $1.1M. We do have some wiggle room in the 2023 bridge budget because repairs to the Children’s Bridge ($325,000) and St. Albert Trail River Crossing ($440,000) can safely be delayed 1-2 years, so my guess is that we’ll delay these projects to create more stability in the 2023 budget.
MDP Redesignation (2nd & 3rd reading)
This is to bring the land annexed from Sturgeon County into the St. Albert Municipal Development Plan. The proposed designations are aligned with regional growth plans, MDP & City goals, etc.
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.
