It’s that time of year: BUDGET!

Next week, Council will be debating the 2025 Budget. I’d encourage you to take sometime to give the recommendations from Administration. You can find them in this draft budget book.

Five things to know as we get into these important discussions:

• Cost Control is always a priority. But heading into 2025, Administration has put renewed focus into reducing costs wherever possible without having a large impact on services.

• Despite efforts to reduce cost, there are still large upward pressures on the City’s Budget. The two big ones this year: the cancellation of a Stormwater Fee and Inflation. Additionally, headwinds from the last few years are still having a huge impact.

• Administration is recommending a tax increase of 4.75%. While this is higher than I like to see, it is lower increase than a lot of other Alberta cities are facing. It will also still mean that taxes have only gone up by about half the rate of inflation over 8 years.

• The Grande Prairie Police Service (GPPS) is is budgeted to cost municipal taxpayers less in 2025 than it would’ve cost to maintain the status quo RCMP contract.

• There are a variety of service enhancements, service cuts, and non-tax revenue strategies that Administration is recommending Council consider.

Below is an unpacking of these five subjects.

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I'm seeing lots of conversation about this article coming out of the Alberta Municipalities conference this week. Speaking for me only, my personal opinion: while I disagree with this idea, I sure appreciated the conversation it was wrapped up in.

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I’m seeing lots of conversation about how our taxes compare to other cities. Which is great! I love when people get interested in the work of Council. If you ever want to chat in depth: I’m always happy to meet for a coffee (or tea or other beverage of your choice).

But something I do want to contribute to the online discussion:

A reminder that tax RATE is very different than tax AMOUNT. And I’d suggest that RATE isn’t a great way to compare municipal finances since it is dependent on home values. To get math-classie:

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Recently, downtown parking has been a topic of discussion at Council. This is always a touchy topic.

Some of my favourite spots to meet friends are in the City Centre and I make an effort to support our downtown businesses. I’m down there frequently. And I don’t find parking a huge issue. I’m almost always parking within a block of where I want to go. I often walk further to get from my car into Costco than I do to get into a downtown business.

But I also get that lots of people aren’t as comfortable with parking in tight spaces as I am. And many worry that they will have to walk far to get to a downtown business. Which leads to some customers choosing to shop, eat or drink elsewhere just because of parking concerns. This has an impact.

I don’t know if big changes are justified at this time. But there might be some tweaks that could be made, especially concerning enforcement in short term parking zones. And as our community grows, change will be needed eventually. It is worth doing some planning for that now.

Following is a bit more history and thinking on this conversation.

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