City of Red Deer
Construction at the Dawe is in full swing – See the virtual walk through!

Construction is in full swing at the G.H. Dawe Community Centre. Over the last year, construction crews have been hard at work at the site and the building is starting to take shape. On track to open in January 2023, the new G.H. Dawe Community Centre will feature:
- Two NHL standard arena surfaces
- Expanded fitness area, with running track and two fitness studios
- Outdoor spray park with washroom facilities
- Fully accessible change space and pool deck party room
- A new washroom in the Preschool program room
- Additional north entrance + site access from 67 Street
- Additional parking
“The countdown is on and we can’t wait to welcome Red Deerians to the transformed G.H. Dawe Community Centre,” said Barb McKee, Recreation Superintendent. “The new facility will truly offer something for everyone, and we look forward to offering new and innovative programs in these new spaces.”
Citizens will see their ideas reflected in many areas of the new facility, with two public engagement processes helping to shape the spray park and fitness programming. Last spring, we asked Red Deerians what they would love to see in a new spray park. Based on your ideas, the spray park is in the final stages of design and will be shared in the coming weeks. We also gathered ideas and input last fall from citizens about the type of active living programs they would like to see at the Dawe, which will shape the programs offered to residents when the facility opens.
“We want to ensure that our community is reflected in the new Dawe,” said McKee. “More than that though, we want the new spaces and amenities to meet the needs of the community.”
While the existing Dawe has remained open during construction for the most part, an extended closure is necessary to complete some critical work safely and efficiently. The facility will be closed from May 1 to June 25. During this time, we’ll be working on the water park accessible change room and program spaces. This work will result in the closure of the fitness room for the remainder of 2022, with some fitness equipment relocated to other areas in the facility as an interim measure. You can learn more about the closure in The City’s news release.
The G.H. Dawe Community Centre project is a $44 million project and is jointly funded by the federal, provincial and municipal governments. With the Kinex Arena nearing the end of its useful life, the G.H. Dawe Community Centre Enhancement project was prioritized in an effort to maintain the number of arena surfaces available to our community, and to balance equitable amenity distribution, geographical needs and recreation opportunities across Red Deer. When the facility opens in 2023, the Kinex Arena will be decommissioned and demolished.
With construction on schedule and an anticipated opening planned for January 2023, City Council will consider a one-time funding request on March 16, 2022 to allow for the recruitment of facility staff in 2022. If approved, staff will be hired as needed throughout 2022 to prepare the building and develop programs and services in advance of the grand opening.
More information about the G.H. Dawe Community Centre project is available at reddeer.ca/DaweProject.
City of Red Deer
City releases Annual Financial Report for 2022

Financial Statement Highlights & Analysis
Operating Results
2022 has been an unprecedented year for The City with the economy recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic and the Bank of Canada hiking interest rates to help mitigate rising inflation. These issues, not unique to Red Deer, are posing challenges to The City’s current financial strategy.
Total operating revenue has increased by $8.1 million (3%) over last year but fell short of budget by $14.7 million (4%).
User fees and sale of goods went up by $11.9 million due to an increase in service levels after the pandemic in recreation facilities, transit, and utilities. Most of the increase is in land sales.
Unfortunately, the recovery did not return The City’s operations to pre-pandemic levels. The expectation of revenue increases in those areas exceeded actual results.
Operating expenses were also heavily impacted. Pandemic recovery as well as higher inflation have contributed to the general increase in expenses over last year in the amount of $20.2 million (5%). These increases come in the form of higher fuel costs in transportation and fleet, higher transmission costs and tariffs for electric light and power, and increased salaries at recreation facilities, transit, as well as ongoing overtime for police and emergency services.
On an object basis, these increases are primarily impacting salaries, contracted services, and materials and supplies expense, offset by the decrease in grants to organizations. The City planned on these costs rising, however, and came within $3.5 million (1%) of budgeted expenses.
Due to lower-than-expected revenue and increasing expenses, The City reported an operating deficit of $43.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2022. This is $11.2 million (35%) over budget of $32.4 million.
Operating deficits can affect The City’s ability to fund operations in the future, as it has a direct impact on tax supported reserves. Reserves overall have declined by $21.3 million (11%); $18.7 million of that decrease is the Operating Reserve- Tax Supported (ORTS). The City budgeted a decline (use) of ORTS during 2022 and expected a year-end balance of $17.5 million, however due to the operating deficit, the actual year-end balance is now $8.9 million.
Taken together, tax-supported activities (general government services, protective services, transportation, community services, and recreation, parks, and culture) reported a deficit before capital related revenues of $71.5 million. This is mostly related to depreciation on tangible capital assets which The City does not fund through taxes, but through equity in tangible capital assets. The remaining 25% of the shortfall must be funded through ORTS.
The main areas attributing to the unexpected shortfall in tax supported operations is the RCMP contract and the Kinsmen arena contaminated site accrual as well as lower-than-expected tax-supported revenues, namely investment income, transit, recreation, and fines. These shortfalls are somewhat offset by higher staff vacancies and lower finance charges in transportation and higher community services grants.
Despite this concerning decline in ORTS, self-supported operations are holding steady with no significant change from prior year when taken as a whole. The City expected the use of reserves during the past three years: future budgets will need to improve these key reserves. A revised reserve policy will be forthcoming to Council with a recommended minimum balance for ORTS.
Capital Results
The City’s capital expenditures revealed a little less activity compared to last year. This is due to one of the COVID-19 grant programs ending in 2022, leaving the COVID-19 Resilience grant until December 31, 2023. Total capital grant revenue recognized in the year is $46.7 million, which is $8.6 million (23%) more than projected and $1.9 million (5%) more than last year. The City put more emphasis on utilizing grants while they are still available and less on borrowing and capital reserve.
In 2022, total capital expenditures of $105.2 million were financed with 44% capital grants, 33% reserve, 18% debenture borrowing, and 5% developer fees and other external sources.
The capital activities for The City have resulted in an overall annual surplus of $9.7 million, which is much lower than prior year and lower than budgeted. This shows that The City has become increasingly dependent on capital grants to grow its accumulated surplus. However, it is important to note that all of this surplus is used to purchase tangible capital assets and is not available for operations.
Financial Position
The statement of financial position tells its own story. Both financial assets and liabilities declined over last year. Municipal Sustainability Initiative (MSI) and Canada Community Building Fund (CCBF) advances for 2022 have fallen by roughly half. Although, this did not change the amount of grant revenue reported in 2022, it did reduce both government transfers receivable and deferred government transfers. This indicates potential declines in capital grant revenue reported in the future, especially as the COVID-19 Resilience grant comes to an end.
Because the decrease in financial assets exceeded the decrease in liabilities, the net debt has increased by $21.2 million (20%) from prior year.
Impacts from COVID-19 recovery and rising costs are reflected in The City’s financial position as well. Lower capital expenditures in 2022 have freed up more cash flows to invest in short term deposits to take advantage of the higher interest rates. Losses on sale of long-term investment has also occurred, resulting in lower investment earnings recognized as short term interest is allocated to The City’s various deferred revenue balances.
The market value of The City’s investments fell over 6% to the investment cost, the largest decline in recent memory. Actual investment losses are not realized unless the investments are sold. Management believes that these declines are temporary as interest rates stabilize and the bond market adjusts to a higher interest rate environment.
Debt Limit
The City’s investment portfolio is not the only area affected by a higher interest rate environment. The cost of new borrowing will increase into the foreseeable future. Though, The City has reported no substantial increase in finance charges for 2022, the debt servicing limit is more forward looking. Despite higher revenues resulting in higher debt service limit of $89 million, total debt servicing costs have risen at a higher rate, resulting in an increase in debt service limit to 37%, up from 36%. This is largely due to full years’ worth of payments on the $19 million debenture issued September 2021 for The Westerner Exposition Association. Although a 1% increase is not a cause for concern on its own, it is important to note that, going forward, the more expensive new debt becomes, the higher the debt servicing limit will grow relative to the debt limit.
This is illustrated by The City’s debit limit decreasing even though debt servicing increased. The debt limit percentage is now at 56%, down from 58% due to higher revenues and long-term debt remaining relatively unchanged.
In Summary
With no changes to service levels, no increases to property taxes combined with increased costs during the past three years has culminated in The City relying heavily on operating reserves, specifically the ORTS. This is a trend The City must improve upon in the upcoming years.
While The ORTS is an area of concern, other indicators do provide a positive picture. Utility operations remain stable and well managed, the use of debt has leveled off, and the investments made to our assets are strong. Administration has more control over costs, which are managed well, and less control over revenues, which have not achieved our planned levels.
The task before us is to maintain what we are doing right and to improve upon our key reserve balances. The City’s future budgets are moving away from a reliance on reserves as a funding source and plan to update the reserve policy to prop up reserve balances. Our next two years will also see the City develop a Long Term Financial Plan and an overall values based service level review.
Respectfully submitted,
Ray MacIntosh, MBA, CPA, CGA Chief Financial Officer
May 1, 2023
(a) Salary includes regular base pay, overtime, lump sum payments, gross honoraria, and any other direct cash remuneration. The City does not pay bonuses to employees.
(b) Employer’s share of all employee benefits and contributions or payments made on behalf of employees including pension, health care, dental coverage, group life insurance, long and short- term disability plans, professional memberships, tuition, and car allowance. Benefits and allowances also include supplementary employee retirement plan payments and moving and relocation allowances.
(c) Benefits for City Councillors include accidental death and dismemberment, group life, health care, dental coverage, registered savings plan, internet and phone allowances, transit, and Canada Pension Plan.
(d) Included in benefits for the City Manager is a lump sum payout from the Muni SERP retirement plan in the amount of $133 in 2022.
City of Red Deer
Red Deer Archives launches Advocate photograph collection

Red Deerians and historical researchers are invited to browse photographs from the Red Deer Advocate via a new digital archives collection that launched Tuesday, June 6.
“These photographs have been a great resource tucked away inside the Red Deer Advocate’s collection for many years,” said Jillian Staniec, Archives Coordinator. “It’s wonderful to now have the permission from Red Deer Advocate and BlackPress Media to share them with the public.”
Over 1,000 images have already been added to the online Red Deer Advocate Collection, which can be viewed at https://reddeer.access.preservica.com/. The physical collection contains over 40,000 photographs of Red Deer’s history and is available in-house for anyone to search and access.
“The Red Deer Advocate has a long and storied history in our community. We are thrilled and grateful that The City of Red Deer and Red Deer Archives has been able digitize hundreds of photographs from our publication, which will help citizens enjoy a trip down memory lane and reconnect with historical events” added Byron Hackett, Managing Editor of the Red Deer Advocate.
As work continues to upload the entire collection online, thousands of images have yet to be listed and digitized; the online collection will continue to grow over the coming years. Researchers are encouraged to contact the Red Deer Archives for assistance if they do not find the images they are looking for while browsing the digital collection.
Red Deer Archives welcomes anyone with historical photos or videos related to Red Deer and area to consider donating these items to the community’s collection. For more information, please visit reddeer.ca/archives.
-
Community13 hours ago
Tour the 2023 Red Deer Hospital Home Lottery grand prize dream home
-
Community1 day ago
ParticipACTION Community Challenge 2023
-
Community19 hours ago
Celebrate Canadian Environment Week by Volunteering at the Green Deer River Valley Cleanup, June 10!
-
Canadian Energy Centre1 day ago
Mexico leapfrogging Canada on LNG and six other global oil and gas megaprojects
-
Health23 hours ago
WHO’s Global Digital Health Certification Network
-
COVID-192 days ago
Supreme Court of Canada won’t hear unvaccinated woman’s case for organ donation
-
National2 days ago
‘Unmitigated gall’: Senator rejects minister’s call to pass Liberal guns bill quickly
-
International2 days ago
Trudeau Foundation board chair says donation from Chinese company has been returned