By Curtis Galbraith

2021 City Budget

2021 municipal budget to create 0.15 per cent property tax increase

Nov 13, 2020 | 5:43 PM

City Hall budget talks have wrapped up and the 2021 spending plan calls for a 0.15 per cent property tax increase.

This will be added to the 1.5 per cent increase that was waived for 2020 as a credit to help deal with COVID-19. This means an actual bump of 1.65 per cent.

Mayor Bill Given says this credit amounted to a one-time grant that is not ongoing.

“Residents would have seen that reflected on their 2020 tax bill. The 2021 tax bill will be reflective of what their base would have been plus the 0.15 per cent that was reflective of the decisions council made.”

How much individual tax bills actually go up will still depend on the property’s assessment.

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“(That is) the difficulty that we face every year when we talk about taxes and the impact on different individual properties. Some properties will increase in value, some properties will decrease in value depending on market sales and market comparators,” says Given.

He adds that 0.15 per cent increase is well below the rate of inflation, adding low increases like this are likely not sustainable over the long term. He maintains that there has still been a net property tax reduction over this council’s term and that taxes in 2021 will be lower than they were in 2017.

Revolution Place discussions

After a lot of discussion, a motion to see $3 million borrowed to improve the entranceways and ticket offices at Revolution Place, a project that would also see a loading dock added, was passed.

More expensive options were rejected. Those included a full-scale renovation with a projected cost of $55-million dollars and a $4 million dollar renovation that would have added suites and acoustics improvements to the loading dock, entranceway and ticket office upgrades.

RELATED: City Council rejects large-scale renovation for Revolution Place

Given says council was not interested in a full-scale renovation.

“There was at least a majority of support for making some minor functional improvements that will improve the customer experience at the front end upon entry of the facility and improve the functionality of the facility for shows and events loading in.”

This was approved by a 5-4 vote, with Given and Councillors Chris Thiessen, Clyde Blackburn, Kevin O’Toole and Yad Minhas voting in favour and Councillors Eunice Friesen, Jackie Clayton, Wade Pilat and Dylan Bressey opposed.

Bressey says he is skeptical of a figure quoted at $183,000 annually in operational savings that could come about by doing these renovations.

Clayton says she could not support the idea because it does not address acoustic improvements, what she calls the number one issue at Revolution Place.

Earlier this year, council approved $544,000 for some other improvements at Revolution Place. Administration says some painting and work on a new security scan have been finished. A $400,000 project to improve concessions was on hold until discussions about the other renovations. That work can now go ahead.

A motion to add $150,000 to the 2022 budget for planning for a new events centre has also been passed.

Lots of road work coming

There is also a total of $24.1 million dollars for road work in next year’s spending plan. This is after another $3 million worth was deferred to future years.

Given says the worry is not the amount of money, but the ability for local contractors to do that much work in one year.

“The 2021 construction season will be a busy construction season with very significant amounts of road work and infrastructure happening all across the city. I think residents will be very pleased with the results, although it may be a bit of a challenging year with respect to navigating the city.”

Given says city staff will use what he calls “construction coordination” to help people get around. An example of this would be not closing two north-south main roads at the same time. He adds council has heard from residents that money needs to be spent on core infrastructure.

There is $6 million dollars included for improvements to the former bypass from the Staples corner (100 Avenue and 108 Street) to the Ernie’s corner (100 Street and 116 Avenue) and continuing to the north city limits. Part of this, $3 million is from a provincial grant the city received as part of the agreement for the city taking over this road. The rest is from the Municipal Sustainability Initiative.

Details and planning on the work are still being done. City administration said Thursday that the stretch along 100 Street may need to be rebuilt rather than just repaved. There is another $5,750,000 in what the city calls the Old Highway 43 Rehab Program for 2022 and another $3,250,000 that will be funded by a provincial grant. There is also $2,500,000 in the 2023 budget and another $5,750,000 in each of 2024 and 2025 that is currently unfunded. Some work along 100 Avenue was completed earlier this year.

There is still $8 million dollars in the budget for road rehabilitation, money that will also come from the provincial MSI grant. There is also $14 million for the Downtown Rehabilitation and Streetscape work on 100 Avenue between 98 and 100 Streets. This will see the street dug up and underground pipes upgraded, along with work on the road and on the look of the street.

Other budget highlights

– A motion to add $150,000 to the 2021 city budget for a police model review passed by a unanimous vote. Councillor Dylan Bressey says he wanted to see this because of the province’s discussions about having an Alberta police force. He is wondering if this goes ahead if it will mean the province will only police its own jurisdictions and leave communities like Grande Prairie to find their own police forces.

– A motion to add $375,000 to the 2021 budget to help out Nitehawk after a landslide that took out part of the chair lift was approved by a unanimous vote. The funding is subject to the city getting a look at final details on repairs.

– A motion to add $1 million to the 2022 budget for the Avondale Redevelopment Plan was also approved by a unanimous vote. This is related to an idea to do a partial demolition of the Leisure Centre but do some other work to keep two soccer pitches in that area. The demolition of the current Comp high school is set for the fall of 2022 and the city is hoping to work with the province on doing something with the Leisure Centre at the same time. A funding source for this has not yet been determined.