News profile1. What are your thoughts on city ownership of Saamis Solar, and what direction would you want to see council take with ownership of renewables?
I believe further information is required on this topic regarding cost recovery/projected profitability, potential provincial power purchase agreements and what types of federal and provincial granting opportunities are available. If it is financially feasible to be a long term profitable contributor to our utility and therefore to our city coffers that partners in costs with other levels of government, I think it would be a prudent choice to move forward with it. If it is a risk solely borne by the municipality without significant indication that it leads to financial benefit for our residents, I think it probably needs to be tabled until such a time as conditions are more favourable. I understand there is some demand from industrial customers for this type of energy so that needs to be a consideration too as they work to meet provincial and federal emission requirements. I do appreciate that the development is slated to occur on sterile land that has limited alternate use.
2. What are your thoughts on the future of the energy division, specifically the concept of turning it into a municipally controlled corporation?
I understand there are considerable set-up and operating costs associated with switching to an MCC and I am cautious of a couple of factors:
1. Cost recovery and increased profitability – will the profitability significantly exceed the costs associated? There is no way to guarantee this so we could end up with a utility that costs more to operate at a similar level of profitability.
2. Rates – As an MCC, the board and staff would be driven to increase profitability. Considering we as residents are the primary customers, I would have concern over how this would impact our utility rates if control was relinquished outside of our elected representatives.
At this time and without considerable further information regarding these factors, I am opposed to the MCC concept for our energy division.
3. How would you look to balance taxation with the operation costs of running a city, as well as the services provided to residents?
Affordability is a significant concern for me so we cannot continue with these large annual property tax increases. I also do not want to see a reduction to essential services or infrastructure maintenance and repair so we have to be very strategic in how we achieve this. I think we need to start by prioritizing needs vs wants (i.e. replace aging infrastructure under the roads vs do not make unnecessary and costly cosmetic alterations on the surface that impede traffic flow). Looking at cancelling or postponing non-essential projects is a good start. Returning to the Financially Fit program the city had in place during Covid would offer some relief as the city’s labour force is slowly decreased through attrition as staff retires or otherwise moves on. Using some reserves to offset tax increases in the short term will help as we build a longer term plan but I don’t want to become dependent on reserves. I think the long term plan is economic development. We need new tax payers to help pay for existing infrastructure and services and commercial properties pay at nearly 2.5 times the rate of residential. Commercial development also creates jobs that lead to more residential development opportunities. I believe this should be our long term focus for a solution to balance taxation with city operating costs.
4. How would you approach economic development and any need to incentivize business to come to Medicine Hat?
As mentioned when discussing affordability, I believe economic development is critical in addressing property tax increases. The costs of operating the municipality will inevitably continue to grow due to inflationary conditions related to product, equipment and labour costs and if we don’t offset these with new tax payers, we can expect our property taxes to continue to rise at current rates.
Red Tape Reduction: Our permitting process has a long time reputation of frustrating potential developers away from doing business here. I would like to dedicate an employee(s) within the economic development department into a new role as Business Concierge. This department answers directly to the CAO who answers only to council so some of the layers of bureaucracy will be bypassed in this structure. I envision this new position assisting in all city dealings with a new development to expedite the permitting processes; from initial expression of interest to grand opening, they will walk the developer and the department through all pertinent interactions. I would also like to have a review done of our permitting process and requirements to determine what we require above and beyond that of provincial standard and regulation; what has been layered on to the process in addition to what other jurisdictions require. Once we have a better understanding of this, we can work to remove some historical redundancies, inefficiencies and unnecessary requirements to help expedite the overall permitting process.
Business Attraction Incentives: I would like to freeze off site levies at zero for the first three years of this term. These are the fees associated with bringing required infrastructure to the development property of which a percentage of cost is recovered. It takes approximately 3 – 5 years of property taxes to recover the offsite levies so within just a few years, all new developments will have covered their fees via new taxes and will begin contributing to the overall tax pool to help offset increases for all. I would look to protect residents from this investment by designing the zero levy as a rebate wherein the developer paid it in full up front and was then rebated back as their property taxes covered it. The developer has to invest in Medicine Hat in order to get Medicine Hat to invest in them.
5. With the proposed north-side location for a permanent homeless shelter off the table following public concerns, what do you think are the essential priorities that a shelter location must provide?
Firstly I think given that the cold winter months are rapidly approaching, it is imperative that a shelter be made available as soon as possible, even if it is temporary until a long term solution is determined. I also believe that no matter where in the city a shelter is proposed there is going to be pushback from that particular community so at some point city council is just going to have to make a tough decision and get on with the business of providing one. I think a shelter must provide some immediate essential services such as sleeping quarters, food/meals, showers, perhaps lockers for clients to store their possessions in safely both while they stay and while they are moving around elsewhere and access to necessary services. I do not believe the shelter necessarily needs to be located directly adjacent to where these essential services and agencies are housed but rather that there is staffing on site that are able guide and connect clients to the services that they need as an individual. This would include organizations such as Community Housing, the Root Cellar, Recovery Alberta, Alberta Safety Link, the Miiywasin Centre, AHS, the Women’s Shelter, etc. Although some of these services are located downtown, I do not feel a shelter has to be located there. Public transportation can be used to access these services from the shelter location when needed.
6. A lot of focus during this election campaign has been on property taxes in Medicine Hat, though a majority of residents do not own property. What can or should the city be doing to ease cost-of-living issues for those who do not own property, such as renters?
Property taxes are paid by renters through their rental rates. As property taxes increase, the rental rates are adjusted upward to reflect the increased costs associated with providing the rental property. This applies to both residential and commercial property rentals. As commercial property taxes increase, so do their subsequent costs of doing business and ultimately the costs of local goods and services also increase thereby affecting the cost of living for renters and owners alike. I recognize that the cost of materials and labour for city projects and services will continue to increase each year thus always necessitating some level of property tax increases but the city (and province via the education levy) should be working to keep those increases at a minimal level through prudent spending and new business attraction. The more properties we have paying taxes, especially commercial at a significantly higher rate, the less burdensome taxes are overall for renters and owners alike. Keeping tax increases at a reasonable rate is advantageous to both renters and property owners on both residential and commercial properties.7. What are your thoughts on proposed recreational facilities such as the Southside Outdoor Aquatics Centre and Brier Run Sports Field? How much focus would you want the city to put toward adding recreational facilities?
I think recreation facilities are imperative to a healthy community. I also think affordability is critically important and that we need to find a balance in new spending with keeping taxes and user fees at a reasonable rate for everyone. The south side could certainly use a water park facility so we need to look at the increasing costs of maintaining and prolonging the life of aging water facilities elsewhere in the city and balance those costs against the costs of building and operating new and more efficient facilities. I think eventually that balance tips to the favour of facility replacement. I also think that as we move in the future to developing new recreation facilities anywhere in the city that we should be looking at contracting out their new operating services to a third party such as the YMCA to keep operating costs down and allow for organizations with rec facility experience to do what they do best, operate them.
