Coming Up: May 17
Council meets on Monday. The agenda includes:
Tax Rates
Meeting Recordings
Correspondence
Following is more information and my take on agenda items.
As always, any mistakes or opinions belong to me and me alone, not to Council or City staff.
While I express my current views below, I work hard to go into meetings ready to listen and with an open mind. I learn new information and participate in debate. This always informs, and sometimes changes, how I vote on issues.
If you would like to watch the meeting or read any of its supporting material for yourself, you can do so by clicking here. The City will post the highlights of Council’s decisions here.
TAX RATES
Provincial legislation demands an awkward budget process for the City. Council had to set its budget for 2021 back in late 2020. This is when most major spending decisions are made. However, Council isn’t able to formally set property taxes until the spring.
At its meeting this week, Council will be debating the 2021 Tax Rate Bylaw to implement the budget that was already approved in November.
Under the proposed Bylaw, there will be a 0% increase to the municipal property taxes collected.
However, in 2020, Council drew from the Financial Stabilization Reserve and offered a onetime rebate of 1.25%. For an average household, this was equivalent to $38. It has a cost to the City of $1.5 million. So far, this is not proposed to happen again this year.
Additionally, about 20% of property taxes are provincial taxes. The City gets no say in the amount of provincial taxes collected. It just has to collect them on behalf of the province of Alberta. An average property will pay 7% more in education taxes in 2021 than it paid in 2020. For an average household, this is equivalent to $48.
When the 2020 rebate and increased provincial taxes are factored in, an average residential property will have a total 2021 tax bill that is $86 higher than last year’s bill.
I’m likely to support the proposed tax rate.
Because of our current circumstances, I don’t like to see someone pay more in 2021 than in 2020. However, most of the increase is coming from provincial taxes, which Council does not control. And last year, Council kept the municipal portion of its taxes artificially low by drawing from Reserves. I voted against this strategy, and am unlikely to support it this year. Drawing from reserves is unsustainable: it only pushes tax increases into future years. If Council wishes to lower taxes, it should do so by making permanent reductions to its taxes, not by drawing from reserves.
Additionally, when Council lowers taxes, there is nothing Council can do to make sure that those savings are passed on from landlords to tenants. And while many families and businesses are financially hard hit by COVID, that isn’t the case for all. Some incomes have actually benefited from COVID. If Council wants to draw from reserves to help people, I can support that. But help should be targeted towards people who need it, not spread around to everyone. A $38 tax rebate given to each homeowner and landlord doesn’t help most families. However, Council could make significant impact in the community if it spent $1.5 million on more targeted supports.
IMPORTANT NOTES:
If Council approves the proposed Property Tax Bylaw, and average residential property will pay 1% less taxes in 2021 than it paid in 2017. This is despite inflation driving up costs for the City, and despite provincial and federal governments downloading costs while reducing grants to municipalities.
In addition to the 2020 tax rebate, Council also forgave late tax penalties in 2020. It is proposed that Council do that again in 2021. These property tax relief initiatives have a combined total of $3,000,000
As we talk about property taxes, all that Council can set is what happens to an average property. In 2021, an average residential assessment fell by 1.7% and an average commercial property assessment feel by 6.25%. If a specific property had its assessment fall by more than the average, it will pay less taxes. If its assessment fell by less than the average or increased, it will pay more taxes. I know talking in averages is frustrating to many people (including me!). However, it is a requirement of the provincially mandated tax system the City has to use. To learn more about how it works, you can checkout this short series of videos.
The City is already working on budget 2022. And we would love your input! If you have opinions about taxes, please fill out the Budget 2022 survey at engage.cityofgp.com
MEETING RECORDINGS
Council has four Standing Committees. Most things that come to Council are discussed at Committee first. And because Committees have more time for discussion than Council does, their meetings are often VERY important to the decisions that get made.
Traditionally, Committee meetings did not have publicly available recordings made. Councillors had to rely on minutes, notes, and memory to recall what was said at them. And members of the public could only watch Committee meetings by attending in person. Which was impossible for many, due to them being on Tuesday mornings.
Because of COVID, meetings have moved to Zoom. This means they have been getting recorded and posted to the City website. Which is a very positive change! It increases transparency since the public can now watch Committee meetings. I’ve also found it useful in my decision making to go back and re-watch some Committee meetings.
At our meeting this week, Council will be debating amendments to the Procedure Bylaw that would cause Committee meetings to continue being recorded and made publicly available when Committees resume meeting in Chambers.
These amendments will also make permanent some other temporary changes, such as allowing members of the public and Council to take part in meetings through teleconference if they cannot meet in person.
CORRSEPONDENCE
Council will be receiving letters from several organisations. These include:
Alberta Health Services giving an update on the opening of the new hospital. You can read it here.
Grande Prairie Regional Hospital Foundation making a request of $500,000 for the purchase of equipment
Downtown Association asking Council to have the City cover the cost of the 2021 Business Improvement Levy
Council will also be receiving for information a letter Mayor Clayton is sending to the provincial Justice Minister. This requests that the province hire a Court of Queens Bench judge to permanently reside in Grande Prairie. The provincial Court of Queens Bench Act says that Grande Prairie should have a resident judge, but it doesn’t: judges need to travel to Grande Prairie from other jurisdictions. This introduces delays and costs that are unnecessary.
That’s what is on our agenda for Monday. I’d love to hear your thoughts.
You can comment below. Or, you can contact me at dbressey@cityofgp.com or 780-402-4166. I'm happy to talk online or over the phone. I'm also always willing to setup a time to meet for coffee.
We also always have great conversation in the GP Round Table group on Facebook.
After Council meeting, you will be able to find highlights posted by the City here.
Thanks for reading!
-Dylan