Clugston not thinking about municipal infrastructure grant until after next election
By Collin Gallant on March 24, 2018.
cgallant@medicinehatnews.com @CollinGallant The Municipal Sustainability Initiative — a provincial grant program to help cities pay for new infrastructure projects — will be wound down over several years, according to the province, though Medicine Hat’s mayor says he’s not looking too far into the future regarding provincial operations. “If it’s happening post 2019 (election), I don’t pay too much attention,” said mayor Ted Clugston, who became mayor in 2013. “I’ve had five premiers and heard five different stories about (what will happen with) MSI over 10 years.” At the same time, Clugston says the program, which gives about $1.3 billion to cities on a per-capita basis, including $11 million to Medicine Hat, is critical for city budgeting. Recent money was used to pay for firehall relocation in Medicine Hat, a portion of Veiner Centre reconstruction and the ongoing construction to replace storm sewers and the road surface on South Railways Street. “With every provincial budget, it’s the No. 1 thing we’re concerned about,” said Mayor Ted Clugston. “Every municipality watches it. We’re completely reliant upon it. We budget for it on what we expect it to be year to year, whether it will go up or down or whether it will be cancelled.” In Thursday’s provincial budget announcement, the New Democrat government said the program would be reduced over the next several years, then replaced in 2021 with a revenue-sharing formula going forward. The program was created by the Ed Stelmach government about a decade ago, and was only meant to last five years. Succeeding governments however, have kept it alive, while some municipalities, such as Calgary and Edmonton, have called for a more predictable revenue-sharing formula. Values from year to year have varied greatly. Over the past year, the government made an additional $400 million from next year’s grant available to cities — money the city used to accelerate its LED streetlight conversion program. Considering the two years together, the reduction is about $150 million province-wide for 2018-19. The City of Medicine Hat’s share of the crease would be about 1.5 per cent, said Clugston. Elsewhere in the provincial budget, Clugston said he was encouraged more money could be made available for social housing strategy. He was disappointed the province won’t make money available to help city police forces and planning departments with the costs of cannabis legalization this summer. Clugston also said the city is prepared to put together a proposal to create a regional transportation system that could bring rural residents to the Hat for medical and other appointments or general purposes. “We’re ready to go,” said Clugston. “We’ve been working on it.” That would be due in May, he said, but it would be contingent on local council approval and support from communities throughout the southeast corner. 18
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