The LRT levy collected as part of St. Albert’s property taxes is on the way out.
Council voted on Tuesday night to begin the process to eliminate the collection of the LRT levy in future tax years.
While discussion briefly turned into a debate about the future of light rapid transit in St. Albert, at the heart of the matter was a motion from Coun. Cathy Heron seeking to have city administration bring forward changes to eliminate the LRT/BRT levy for the 2015 taxation year along with recommendations on what to do with the surplus funds which have already been collected.
“I want to start this with a clear understanding that I’m not against the LRT,” Heron said. “What I did see was what I kind of considered an oddball levy.”
The levy has served its purpose at showing St. Albert’s support for bringing LRT to the city, she said, and while the reserve has been used appropriately before, she doesn’t see a reason to continue with it.
“If I could see a future operational or alignment or logistics study we could use this money for, I wouldn’t have the motion on the floor,” she said.
The levy was established in 2010 at a rate of $1 per $100,000 of assessment. It was increased to $1.50 in December 2012.
A staff report said $156,959 was set to be levied for the 2014 tax year. The reserve is currently funding the LRT functional alignment study. About $14,391 would be left in the reserve if the levy is cancelled.
Council voted 5-2 to have administration bring back the changes needed to eliminate the levy for 2015. Mayor Nolan Crouse and Coun. Wes Brodhead voted against scrapping the levy.
Brodhead voted against the motion because it would take away the “obvious support” for bringing light rapid transit to St. Albert. “Nothing moves people like a train,” he said.
Brodhead took issue with numbers presented by Coun. Cam MacKay, who shifted the debate briefly into talking about the concept of bringing LRT to St. Albert rather than the narrow topic of cancelling the levy collection.
MacKay’s arguments left out the costs of building roads to accommodate St. Albert’s growth, Brodhead said.
“You can’t build enough roads to build your way out of congestion,” Brodhead said, adding a different paradigm is needed to move people.
MacKay had pointed out Edmonton expects to cost-share bringing the northwest leg of the LRT to St. Albert’s borders.
He said the economies of scale that would make LRT financially viable for St. Albert are “hundreds of years” away.
“Common sense is a valuable asset that any community in the world should pursue,” MacKay said.
Coun. Sheena Hughes pointed out there is a list of items council has set up that need to be complete before any more money is put towards the LRT, so she said “there’s no need for us to consider putting money aside until that list is exhausted.”
Coun. Gilles Prefontaine supported the motion because the levy is separated out from general taxes, whereas many of the other city services and city initiatives paid for by taxes are not.
Coun. Tim Osborne said the motion at hand was about the LRT levy, and since he didn’t see any LRT-related costs at the moment, he’d support the move to get rid of the levy.
