Chamber of Commerce battling city council’s massive proposed tax increase

News release from the Red Deer & District Chamber of Commerce

The Red Deer & District Chamber of Commerce has reviewed the proposed 2024 City Operating and Capital Budgets and have concluded that the City’s growth in expenditures is unsustainable that will have significant impacts on the Business Community in these times of slow economic growth and elevated costs related to labour and persistent supply chain issues.

The Chamber would like to commend The City of Red Deer for its efforts to provide transparency and accountability with the 2024 Amended Operating & Capital Budget Report released on January 8, 2024.   The information provided gives a solid overview of the current operations of the organization. The Chamber was provided an opportunity for direct consultation with the City on this budget and the opportunity to provide our views before final council deliberations is welcomed and appreciated. 

“We are glad to provide feedback from our members on behalf of Red Deer’s business community through our consultation on the City’s amended 2024 budget,” says Chamber CEO Scott Robinson. “Our response to the City centers on the need for smart financial decision-making and recognition of the impact of the continued tax burden in the current economic environment. We are asking the City to assess overall spending and the resultant substantial tax increases that are significantly above the rate of inflation. The City needs to look for opportunities to decrease costs and to determine priority areas for spending. Passing on the costs for unchecked growth of the City’s budget to businesses is simply not sustainable”.

The proposal of $488.3 M in operating and $117.3 M in capital for 2024 includes options for a 6.15%, 8.55%, and 13.86% tax rate increase. These options represent an increase in overall spending from the 2023 approved budget of 9.5% ($31 M) and do not include any reductions to service levels or projects.

“After review of the report, the City intends to increase spending substantially without providing any review or consideration for a reduction in services or outsourcing to reduce costs,” remarked Robinson. “While it is important to acknowledge the impact of inflation, higher costs, and reductions in grants from other levels of government, these circumstances should trigger the City to look at cost reduction opportunities not just tax and/or fee increases. We expect the City to complete a prioritization of services and in turn make changes to operations that will decrease expenses. We need to keep the cost of doing business competitive and protect our local economy. Tax rate increases at this level will certainly have negative consequences for business, but our real concern is a lack of planning for change.”

The following recommendations were included in the Chamber’s response to the City:

Minimize Tax Rates – Tax increases should remain in line with inflation.
Review User Pay Revenue – Review the rates of fees and fines to ensure that fees are in line with the fixed cost increases of services and facilities.
Prioritize City Services and Outsourced Service Delivery – Engage an external consultant to analyze core City services and identify opportunities for outsourcing and/or private sector delivery.
Create Opportunities for Flexibility – Consider delay or reductions to the scope of activities to future years.
Economic Growth for the City – Re-evaluate Economic Development Activities.

“We look forward to working with City Council and administration in identifying opportunities for sustainable City operations in the coming years and to ensure that Red Deer is a community with the infrastructure and services that position Red Deer competitively as a vibrant business community”. CEO Scott Robinson

Related Topics:#RedDeer&DistrictChamberofCommerce #RedDeerTaxIncrease #ScottRobinson feature

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City of Red Deer

City says Red Deer residents impressed by changes to snow and ice control program

Published on May 13, 2024

City of Red Deer

City Council reviews pilot snow and ice control program

This past winter, The City of Red Deer piloted changes to the snow and ice control program that focused on restoring mobility sooner and providing safe, accessible and well-maintained transportation infrastructure for all.

Major changes included 24/7 operations for residential street clearing, increased traction control throughout the city, additional sidewalk, trail and staircase clearing, and decreased timelines for bus stop clearing. On Monday City Council reviewed the 2023-24 snow and ice control operational report which outlined the pilot’s successes and challenges, as well as the learnings and opportunities for improvement.

“Overall, our more responsive approach to snow and ice control resulted in better mobility for motorists and pedestrians, and a greater quality of winter road maintenance,” said Greg Sikora, Manager of Parks and Public Works. “Of the many successes of the pilot program, the community was most pleased with the noticeable improvement in traction control and our ability to clear Green Routes within six days, thanks to moving Green Route plowing to 24/7 operations.”

Improvements to pedestrian, cyclist and motorist transportation networks include:

Increased presence and effectiveness of pre-treating, plowing, and sanding on major arterials, hills and bridges, with two and four-hour traction control equipment cycles,
5 locations of staircase clearing,
43 km of neighbourhood asphalt trails cleared after each snowfall,
Inclusion of second side sidewalks (9 km)
635 transit stop clearing: 61 high priority cleared in 1 day, 153 medium priority cleared within 3 days, an additional 421 supplemental stops cleared within 7 days.

Throughout the pilot program, The City connected with the community to get feedback on operations including regular check-ins with the Engaged Citizens Group, two broad public surveys, a transit rider survey and the Citizen Satisfaction Survey.

Overall, citizens felt arterial roadways, hills and bridges were adequately maintained, and were satisfied with the Green Route plowing operation, with little concern raised about nighttime operations and 24/7 parking bans. Residents reported a prominent level of satisfaction with the additional mobility of trails, sidewalks and staircases, and there was improved public awareness of snow clearing programs.

Additionally, a noticeable improvement in adherence to the parking ban resulted in less than 100 tickets being issued this year. Complaint call volumes and service requests for traction control also trended downward this year.

“While we’ve received positive feedback from the community, we know there is always room for improvement. Our greatest challenges to the snow and ice control program remains the variability of weather, pivoting operations from a plow based program to a traction control focus and choosing the right time to execute Green and Grey Route plows,” said Manager Sikora.

In June 2023, Council adopted the revised Integrated and Accessible Transportation Policy (IAATP), which focuses on providing the community with mobility services based on four guiding principles: safe, accessible, well-maintained and accountable.

City Council will consider the future level of service at the May 27 City Council meeting.

City of Red Deer

City presses ‘pause button’ on search for homeless shelter location

Published on May 10, 2024

City of Red Deer

City Council to consider requesting provincial Expression of Interest (EOI) related to permanent shelter

A formal request for a provincial Expression of Interest (EOI) is being considered by City Council on Monday after City Council decided to cease site selection until more information is available from the Government of Alberta related to vision and operator.

The decision to cease site selection occurred in an open meeting of Council on Monday, May 18, 2024. Since that time, Mayor Ken Johnston met with the provincial government to talk about proceeding with the development of the shelter in a new way, potentially issuing an EOI.

This is a shift from focusing on site right now. An EOI would help gauge interest related to potential shelter operators in Red Deer. It would help ensure understanding about options for operators and models in advance of any further site considerations by City Council.

“We have heard from citizens, that it is difficult to support the location of a future shelter in Red Deer without understanding what it will be. Our community wants to understand what services a future shelter may provide and how it will fit with our community,” said Mayor Johnston. “We have been looking for a different way through this process, and issuing and EOI may help City Council and our community better understand what options exist related to operators and operating models. We want to understand the vision the Government of Alberta has for a future shelter in our city.”

In April, Mayor Johnston met with the Government of Alberta related to vision and operator. Minister Nixon, Minister Williams, MLA LaGrange, MLA Stephan and Mayor Johnston were in attendance at the meeting with preliminary conversations occurring related to options for next steps.

As the Government of Alberta is responsible for the provision of shelter, it would be a provincial EOI. Red Deer City Council and administration continue to express their intention to remain committed to the project as outlined in the current Memorandum of Understanding between The City and the Government of Alberta.