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?
Keeping ownership of the City’s existing electrical generation unit is a must. It allows us to set our own electrical rates and generates revenue when we have an excess that can be sold into the provincial grid. It’s an important part of the Medicine Hat advantage.
But preparing for the future is also a must. The City’s present electrical generation depends on natural gas to fuel its turbines. Federal law requires a phasing out of natural gas to generate electricity with significant restrictions beginning in 2035, and the complete elimination of its use to generate electricity by 2050. The Province of Alberta is working to mitigate the timing and impact of this, but sooner or later change is coming. We can’t just stick our heads in the sand and hope that the need to transition to renewable energy will somehow go away. We have a relatively short runway and we need to start planning for it now. Doing nothing is not an option.
The City’s ownership of the Saamis Solar project was an informed, calculated business decision. The purpose of it is to create an option to secure our own electrical production capacity for the future. An initial analysis and due diligence was done before the purchase. Now it is possible to complete a more detailed analysis and due diligence, with the help of experts, to assess the viability of various options and complete a cost/benefit analysis for each.
Once that is complete Council will need to decide whether or not to move forward with any option. Public consultation will be required. If the project does move forward it will have to be done in an affordable way that protects our taxpayers and our ratepayers from unexpected or unfair increases in taxes or electrical rates.
This all costs money. It’s not money that we want to spend, but its money we have to spend to explore ways to secure our future in electrical generation. We can’t allow a scenario to develop where our residents wake up in 10 years with our gas fired turbines being phased out or mothballed and buying available power off of the provincial grid at rates set by an outside agency.
2. What are your thoughts on the future of the energy division, specifically the concept of turning it into a municipally controlled corporation?
It’s important to begin by being clear that there was never any question that the City would be the sole owner of the MCC and that Council would still be setting the energy rates. The MCC’s executive team and board of directors would be people with specialized expertise in this area and would be responsible to manage the energy division’s assets and ensure the viability and profitability of those assets for the benefit of the City.
I initially supported the concept of placing the energy division into a MCC after reviewing the November 2024 KPMG Report on the City’s energy business. My main reason for doing so was that I from my experience I could see the clear need for a high level of specialized expertise to properly manage this increasingly complex business involving very substantial amounts of money. The complexities of the energy business in today’s world have outgrown the City’s in-house expertise that Council normally relies on to make its decisions.
After Council decided to not proceed with an MCC, other options have been explored and are under consideration by Council. The need for specialized expertise is still the driving force behind this work. Having recognized that need, Council has an obligation to find an affordable option that will make sure our energy division is managed in the best possible way, so that it can continue to be the valuable asset it has always been.
3. How would you look to balance taxation with the operation costs of running a city, as well as the services provided to residents?
To find the right balance, we need to first look at the revenue side of the ledger. We need more sources of revenue than just property tax. Profits from our energy division, interest from savings in reserves, available federal and provincial funding programs, and affordable borrowing when necessary are all ways to generate revenue without increasing property tax. But the best way to generate additional revenue is through land development that increases the size of the property tax base, not the property tax rate. This is an area where there is room for considerable growth and that growth needs to be aggressively pursued in order to take the pressure off any need to increase the tax burden on existing property owners.
We then need to focus on the expense side of the ledger. Are there areas of the operational costs that can be run more efficiently? Are there areas that need to be right-sized? Reducing costs of operations wherever possible will help to find that balance.
On the expense side of the ledger, we also need to look closely at the services provided to residents. There are the needs and there are the wants. The needs have to be provided, but may be able to be provided more efficiently. An example is garbage pickup. We need to have garbage pick-up, but do we need to have that done every week or would every second week be sufficient? The wants are important too, but those services need to be provided when affordable and without looking to a property tax increase as a first resort.
Finding and maintaining this balance is not only important at budget time. It’s needs to be reviewed regularly to make sure that adjustments can be made along the way if necessary.
4. How would you approach economic development and any need to incentivize business to come to Medicine Hat?
Economic development has to be approached from both a regional and a local perspective. The regional Southeast Alberta Economic Opportunity Strategy for 2025-2030 has been developed to provide an economic development strategy for Medicine Hat, Redcliff, Bow Island, Foremost, Cypress Count and the County of 40 Mile. The province supports this regional approach to economic development.
Locally, there is a lot Council can do. Step One is to develop a meaningful and detailed Strategic Plan for the City for the next 2 years. Economic Development is only one component of a Strategic Plan, but it is strongly connected to each of the others. The Plan needs to be implemented through the City Manager throughout the various City divisions. Regular reviews need to be done to ensure that implementation is taking place on schedule. The Plan itself needs to be reviewed annually to see if any adjustments need to be made.
Step Two is for the City’s Economic Development Department to develop an Economic Development Strategy (EDS) that is aligned with the Council’s Strategic Plan and, to the extent possible, the regional Economic Opportunity Strategy. The City’s EDS would include concrete ways to support the retention and expansion of local small and medium sized businesses, to attract new business and industry, to attract investment, to develop the workforce needed, and to promote land development. This local strategy needs to be developed in collaboration with local economic development organizations.
Step Three is to implement the EDS. The expected results would be fair utility rates, fair business license and permit fees, fair procurement policy, and fair property taxes. This would also be expected to result in improvements at City Hall for businesses, such as: a Red tape reduction program, one stop shopping for existing business expansion and new businesses, and utility and property tax incentives for new or expanding businesses and for attracting industry. Property tax incentives and land cost reductions should also be available options to encourage land development, along with fair and reasonable off-site levy fees that could be paid by the developer annually over 3 years.
Implementation of the EDS would necessarily include collaboration with educational institutions in the City to help provide the necessary workforce development for our City and region.
Step Four is to market Medicine Hat and intentionally target potential businesses and industry that could thrive here and enhance our community.
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?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?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?
