There is no bliss in civic ignorance

By Letter to the Editor on August 28, 2019.

It is said that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. But ignorance is even more dangerous! City council’s ominous silence on vital financial issues is lulling the general public into a serendipitous stupor. After all, isn’t there new development everywhere? The tax base must be expanding! But there is a dark side to the city’s historic advantages. The real question? Where is the legislated commitment to open and transparent accountability?

As a resident of this city and de facto owner of the oil and gas business, the electrical utility and every other city-managed enterprise, I’m troubled that Calgary natural gas companies are selling off their resources at twenty cents on the dollar. I read that our NGPR is losing money with no end in sight. American shale gas is here for a century. How long will the city live with a failing business whose expenses are covered not by revenue but by tax-supported budgets?

We are at least five years away from provincial certificates that would allow the city to abandon oil and gas leases. That’s if reclamation were to begin tomorrow. Meanwhile, lease payments are owing and there is a deficit revenue. Unlike other oil and gas companies, the City of Medicine Hat cannot walk away from abandonment obligations. Why? Because tax dollars provide a steady stream of revenue. Municipalities cannot claim bankruptcy. We are stuck with the overwhelming costs for abandoning hundreds of leases and miles of pipeline. Why is council dipping into the reserve set aside for such reclamation to run its day-to-day operations? How much will we eventually need for reclamation? What are the projected costs?

And why the silence on the helium bonanza we were teased to expect?

There are other questions that should trouble our sleep. For example, how much has been spent on legal appeals for federal compensation that resulted from the Manyberries development embargo? What is the progress in that case? And what is the cost benefit of operating that depleted or depleting oil field?

What were the costs in fighting the River Ridge appeal that asked the city to take responsibility for that hodge-podge of developments and their in-ground utilities? What will be the costs now that the city appears to have lost that case?

And how many Invest Medicine Hat employees will be hired – with offices, salaries, benefits and pensionable service – to move these enterprising individuals “inside” the city’s bureaucracy? Will there actually be a cost saving? What are the numbers please?

Does the ordinary resident have a right to know? Collectively all of us – not just our politicians and administrators – own the city and all its attendant responsibilities. Ultimately, the city’s financial liabilities are ours. Beware. Depending on the answers, the “Medicine Hat Advantage” could become a mere mirage in the summer heat.

Les Pearson

Medicine Hat

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