City Notebook: Medicine Hat is bracing itself for a big week ahead

By COLLIN GALLANT on October 19, 2019.

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cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant

There are a few white-knuckle moments in the week ahead, and specifically for city accountants.

The provincial budget and the federal election will potentially have big implications for the city’s capital construction program.

The 2019-2022 local plan – passed just 10 months ago – calls for grants from “other levels of government” to do a lot of the heavy lifting, and therefore keep the city’s debt levels at a manageable level.

But, even without this week’s watershed moments, it was shaping up to be a bit of a high-wire act.

The Alberta budget is expected to be a rough one, as the United Conservatives have signalled a hard line on spending and reductions in order to tackle the deficit. That includes a revamping of how the province provides support to municipal infrastructure.

To a lesser extent the federal election will also have an affect on infrastructure grants.

As for debt, the bigger factor is how the city’s debt ceiling is determined at twice the city’s annual revenue, meaning that every dollar lost counts twice in the calculation (we’re also talking bare income here, not profit).

That puts a new light on the city’s decision to close 80 per cent of its remaining gas wells, and means real ramifications, potentially lowering the cap by as much as $100 million in four years time when shut-ins are complete.

New municipal borrowing is slimmer than previous years, and that amount should shrink, but in the utilities department, an expansion to the north-end power plant would cost $40 million or more. As well a $25-million water treatment plant upgrade is needed. Then there are smaller projects where provincial grants are already pencilled in as a funding source.

The biggest items are seen as needs, not wants, but councillors and administrators are crediting the $55-million, Unit 16 generators with bringing new industry to town. They’d love nothing more than a repeat, but might have to really crunch the numbers.

The city will gain some room when it no longer has to post letters of credit with Alberta energy regulators as wells are closed,

The current debt is at $380 million compared to a cap of $674 million.

The city’s policy is to stay at or below 60 per cent of the debt limit in actual borrowing, and if it rises too high the city’s budget would garner extra attention from the ministry of Municipal Affairs.

A look ahead

The event everyone’s been waiting for – city council’s organizational meeting – takes place Monday before a regular city council meeting on the same day as the 43rd general election.

Also on the agenda is a planned review of how seniors services are delivered. As well, councillors will hear a presentation on a potential $1-million sale of the lot at 352 Primrose Dr. to Enclave Developments, which is proposing a bareland condo complex on the site near College Drive.

100 years ago

The first farmer-led political party to form government in Canada was elected to a minority position in Ontario’s election on Oct. 20, 1919, the News reported.

With 44 members elected, the United Farmers of Ontario joined with 11 successful Labour MPPs to end 14 years of rule by the Ontario Conservative Party, which fell from 84 seats to 27.

“With this taste of blood, the farmers party will certainly enter the next federal election keen for the fray,” read an editorial analysis.

In the ongoing Alberta Industrialization congress program, Medicine Hat was visited by T.A. Russell, the head of the Willy’s Overland Motor Company. Speaking at the Assiniboia Hotel, he told a business luncheon that his company was developing a convertible auto.

A record alfalfa crop near Brooks could bring in as much as $50 per acre, according to a caption on the News’s new photo array feature page.

The fall of the Lenin-Trotsky regime was inevitable within several weeks, The Associated Press reported.

Medicine Hat would be represented by the Western Canada Land and Irrigation Co. at the high-profile “Chicago Fat Stock Show.” It planned to send a selection of locally raised steers.

Collin Gallant covers city politics and a variety of topics for the News. Reach him at 403-528-5664 or via email at cgallant@medicine hatnews.com