A city councillor wants to re-open debate on the controversial topic of removing provincial grant funding from the utility capital budget in response to mounting public pressure.
Coun. Sheena Hughes told council on Tuesday during budget debate that she wants to bring the matter.
Hughes said since council passed its new utility fiscal policy and rate model earlier this fall, she’s heard feedback from residents concerned about the expected $300 average increase to yearly bills.
“People have asked repeatedly if there’s anything we can do to stop this,” Hughes said.
Residents like Tony Kryzanowksi have expressed ire over the increase. He went so far as to write the minister of municipal affairs to request she look into council’s decision to increase the rates about 20 per cent.
“Why are you treating the citizens of St. Albert this way?” Kryzanowski asked of council. He said everyone in St. Albert deserves a break on utility rates.
He said the process council followed has raised some red flags for him, including voting against the removal of the grants in the spring but deciding to phase out the grants when discussed in the fall.
Chris Belke, the chief legislative officer for the City of St. Albert, advised Hughes she would have to make a motion to council to revisit the debate, which would have to include written rationale as to why the decision should be reconsidered.
The majority of the expected utility increase is set to come from the addition of a supplemental capital contribution fee.
That fee will be about $23 a month on bills, which is meant to cover the costs of utility capital infrastructure for St. Albert over the next 10 years.
The issue of whether to use the Municipal Sustainability Initiative – a provincial grant – was a divisive point for council. While the new rate model in general was unanimously praised for its transparency, Hughes and Coun. Cam MacKay objected to phasing out of those grant funds for use elsewhere in the city’s capital budget.
The five-year phase-out of those provincial grants increased the required supplemental capital contribution to $23. If the grants were included, the fee would be about $14 a month.
Hughes has said she’ll ask council to reconsider its decision to not include provincial grants every year if she has to. She said a $14 a month increase is more reasonable.
Coun. Cathy Heron had championed the removal of provincial grants from the utilities model, noting a consultant’s report had suggested it was a best practice for a city’s utility business to be financially independent.
“Nothing has changed,” Heron said Friday, noting at some point councillors have to accept that a decision has been made.
Utility rates in St. Albert have been too low to cover the needed infrastructure, she added. Council’s not asking people to pay for infrastructure that won’t come for 100 years, but instead will be built in the next 10, she said.
“It’s not an easy thing to do, but it’s the right thing to do,” she said.
Tax relief might be found in a motion from Coun. Gilles Prefontaine who wants to examine if the amount of municipal capital funding provided via property taxes can be reduced as a result of the influx of grant funds to that budget, Heron pointed out.
