Last weeks + Regular Council Meeting September 19, 2022
Last weeks highlights
2022 State of the City: Thanks to the St. Albert Chamber of Commerce for hosting the State of the City event - Mayor Heron did a great job outlining the successes of the last year & the challenges that we’re facing into the future. It was also wonderful seeing our new CAO, Bill Fletcher, on stage for the first time.
Homeland Housing: In addition to regular business, the Homeland board approved the agreement outlining the relationship and expectations regarding St. Albert’s offer of land on which to build near-market housing. Years in the making, this was an exciting next-step in this process to grow accessible housing stock in one of the most in-need municipalities in our catchment area.
Youth Advisory Committee: It was great meeting this group after the summer break. With five new members joining, this meeting included introductions, a review of committee priorities, and discussion about some of the upcoming decisions of Council - I was particularly impressed with interest & questions about tax increases, provincial downloading, and franchise fees.
Agenda highlights
55+ & Alberta Summer Games
Last week, Council decided to move forward with directing Administration to prepare business cases for applications to host the 2027 55+ Summer Games and 2028 Alberta Summer Games. This motion will provide that direction and the cases will be considered during the budget process.
22 St. Thomas Street Land Transfer Agreement
Following a lengthy EOI & negotiation process, this is the formalization of the agreement between the city and Homeland Housing regarding our donation of land for the purposes of near-market housing. As affordable housing has been a priority for several Council terms, this is an exciting next-step at a time when the federal and provincial governments have shown interest in funding this kind of collaborative project. Thanks to former-Councillor Watkins for starting this process in 2019!
“A recent local example [of this kind of partnership] includes the Town of Morinville, that contributed 0.74 ha of municipally owned land and $700,000 to Homeland Housing in support of developing Paul Krauskopf Court, subsequently leveraging another $10.7 million from the Province towards the development. Paul Krauskopf Court was completed in 2021, and is home to working Morinville modest income families and seniors, principally consisting of female-led households. A similar demographic composition would be expected in St. Albert, as female-led households (with and without children) are significantly over-represented in statistics regarding core housing need. St. Albert has 1.8% of its housing stock available as affordable housing, in comparison to the 3.1% average in other Alberta municipalities.”
Electrical franchise fee rate increase
As an option to reduce the tax burden, Council will be considering whether to raise electrical franchise fees from 10 to 15%. This change would result in an increase of revenues of ~1.7M and a 1.4% reduction in the municipal tax requirement. The maximum fee allowed under the Alberta Utilities Commission Act is 20%, with the average in the Edmonton area being ~14% and 5 municipalities in the region (Spruce Grove, Stony Plain, Calmar, Morinville, and Thorsby) opting for the maximum 20%.
Back in 2018, I wrote that “it's interesting to consider the number of buildings that are tax-exempt, therefore don't contribute to municipal infrastructure maintenece - If this motion passes, most residential homeowners will see an overall decrease in what they pay to the city because the costs will be shared to everyone using electricity, not just taxpayers”.
“The main premise of the franchise fee was to generate additional revenue to eliminate the tax subsidization that had been occurring. While virtually all entities use electricity, not all entities pay property taxes. Under a user pay philosophy, all properties that benefit from an electric distribution system should contribute to the costs and/or lost revenues that this service creates. The use of franchise fees to increase revenue from tax exempt groups distributes the burden of paying for City services and supports equity and fairness… As an example, with an increase to a 15% franchise fee, an average single-family home assessed at $450,000 with an average electrical consumption of 640 kWh/month would see an incremental electrical franchise fee increase of $40 on their annual electricity costs. After factoring the total reduction of taxes, the typical residential customer nets an additional annual benefit of $11.”
Sun Country Highway Electric Vehicle Charger ($5,000 or $15,000)
This motion from a member of Council is to consider either decommissioning the charger behind the St. Albert Business Centre (the old CIBC building in downtown) or converting it to a pay-per-use. Our lease at this site expires in 2025 and the charger is likely nearing the end of its useful life, so decommissioning was already planned for 2025 or when the charger is no longer operable. The cost to decommission is $5,000, whether this happens in 2023 or in 2025 as planned. The cost to convert to pay-per-use would be $15,000 and would bring in comparatively negligible revenue.
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 can be found on the stalbert.ca website.
