St. Albert city council has formally approved a host of fee increases, ranging from the cost of development permits to single-family dwelling unit building permits.
It also voted to limit a proposed increase for seniors memberships at Servus Credit Union Place.
As the Gazette reported last month when council passed first reading, city staff estimate the higher fees will generate an additional $113,300 in city revenue next year.
Among the changes is a $7 hike to the current $206 building permit application fee; a $7 increase for demolition permits; a $7 increase for an application for a new single-family dwelling building permit; a $2 per unit increase to the residential fire services fee, and many others falling under the city's Master Rates Bylaw.
Council heard on Tuesday administration considers the increases “reasonable in the market.”
“We were seeing that some of the work that we're doing is taking substantially longer than it used to and we're trying to cover costs, and we did some rough assumptions on the amount of time that it's taking in terms of staff costs,” Adryan Slaght, the city's director of planning and development told council.
The complete list of proposed changes to the Master Rates Bylaw can be found on council's Sept. 5 meeting agenda on the city's website.
On top of the fee increases to the Master Rates Bylaw, although out of council's direct control, are widespread increases to the cost of using city-operated recreation and arts facilities also scheduled to take effect next year.
These increases, which affect Servus Credit Union Place, Fountain Park Pool, Grosvenor Pool, the Arden Theatre, and more, are estimated to generate an additional $117,000 in revenue for the city next year.
On Tuesday, council approved a motion put forward by Coun. Shelley Biermanski that reduced the planned increase for seniors memberships at Servus Place.
A recent report to council says city staff planned to increase the cost of a senior's annual membership at Servus Place by $30 starting September of next year, and Biermanski's motion limited the increase to $20.
An increase of $20 means an annual Servus Place membership for seniors will cost $450 as of September, 2024.
The council background information warned that limiting the increase to $20 “may be considered contradictory to the expectations to continue to improve the revenue stream and net cost recovery” of operating Servus Place, and would mean the city could miss out on as much as $12,000 in revenue.
The report says the city landed on the $30 increase for seniors memberships because of a five-year stagnant price, “escalating inflationary costs to deliver current service levels and striving to ensure our overall membership rates remain competitive with regional counterparts.”
Biermanski said she was glad to see city staff working to improve the cost recovery of Servus Place, given the facility has run more than $2 million deficits the past two years; however, the increase in seniors memberships was disproportionate to the increases planned for other types of memberships.
“We see adjustments across the board, and for the most part they were 4.5 per cent,” Biermanski said. “But for the seniors, (administration) decided on seven per cent, which I didn't think was correct.”
“We do expect them to find a means of cost recovery, because it's losing a couple million dollars a year, and fairly raise costs if you need to, but don't expect one group to contribute a higher amount than another.”
Council heard on Tuesday there are 1,133 annual and monthly senior members at Servus Place this year.
“The main point is not penalizing seniors to a greater level than every other citizen in the city for a membership for health and well-being,” Biermanski said.
Biermanski's motion passed with only Coun. Natalie Joly opposed.
During debate, Joly said she was against the motion because she felt “it's really the definition of getting into the weeds.”
“I trust administration to do these calculations based on the policies that council sets and they have done that, and I'm happy to stay with their recommendations that are based on the governance decisions of Council,” Joly said.
The annual cost for a child's (ages 2-12) membership at Servus Place is set to increase by $10; youth (ages 13-17) and post-secondary student memberships will increase by $15; adult memberships will increase by $25; senior's memberships will increase by $20; and a family membership that covers two parents, one child, and one youth, is set to increase by $140.
Other recreation cost increases planned for next year include increases include a $15 hike for annual Fountain Park Pool memberships for seniors and adults; a $50 increase for family memberships at Fountain Park; and $1-$2 increases for daily rates at the pool depending on age category.
Daily rates at Grosvenor Pool will also be higher next summer, with $0.50-$1.50 hikes planned depending on age category.
