While the city is recommending council put dollars toward the construction of Villeneuve Road, and expanding police service buildings, some projects might be deferred in 2022.
City administration presented its draft budget to council on Nov. 3. The budget includes a 2.5-per-cent tax increase (an additional $93), and a 4.5-per-cent increase in utilities, amounting to $5.97 for the typical monthly household utility bill.
The city has put 13 capital growth projects on council’s radar for approval. Here is a look at some of the projects that didn’t make the list.
Millennium and Heritage Park
Administration is recommending the city defer the next phase of Millennium Park’s design, as well as development in Heritage Park, including the addition of an agricultural pavilion and visitor reception building.
The new Millennium Park would include a pavilion building, designed to work with the outdoor space to support community gatherings and performances.
The next phase of the project would cost about $285,000 and include detailed planning and design, public participation activities, and contingency. The city completed the conceptual design for the project in 2019 but has not moved forward on subsequent phases since.
Detailed planning for an agricultural pavilion and visitor reception building in Heritage Park has also been put on hold for 2022. The total cost of the project would be around $6 million over three years.
Neil Ross Road
Neil Ross Road’s construction might remain on hold in 2022.
A proposed second arterial roadway in St. Albert’s north end, Neil Ross Road would connect 127th Street to St. Albert Trail and Ray Gibbon Drive via Fowler Way.
In the project’s description included in the budget document, the city cited issues with additional development still occurring in the north and east of the city, and the lack of priority for the road according to the city’s 2018 transportation network study, as reasons to defer the project.
Youth transitional housing
A youth transitional housing project might also be passed over this year.
The project was a key recommendation stemming from Mayor Cathy Heron’s Task Force to End Homelessness. Formed in 2018, the committee worked on a response to the rise of unhoused people living in St. Albert.
The concept planning for the housing is evaluated at $115,000. Subsequent years would see additional costs for the project come in at roughly $2 million.
Examples of other capital projects administration has not funded in the draft budget for 2022 include planning for a fire training facility, a Servus Place fitness expansion, a new dog-friendly park, and additional transit waiting shelters.
Reconciliation
Separate from the growth capital budget, city administration is recommending some operating business cases go unfunded for 2022 as a measure to keep the tax increase down.
St. Albert’s Payhonin Reconciliation Report — a 2019 document created through a process of engaging with Indigenous communities — recommends the city establish a full-time equivalent position to work on reconciliation initiatives.
That position — which would cost $181,600 in 2022 — is unfunded in the draft budget.
Another reconciliation-related business case is also unfunded in the draft budget: a rework of the city’s naming policy, proposed to cost $325,000.
This means unless council works out a new arrangement during the budget deliberation process, the city will not explore renaming of municipal properties associated with those in the residential school system, such as Bishop Vital Grandin.
Some examples of other business cases unfunded in the draft budget include keeping on a municipal energy specialist to continue looking at energy efficiency for civic facilities, and the Home Energy Retrofit Accelerator (HERA) program — a program designed to facilitate home renovations done to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions.
