This week, the Gazette asked candidates how they would address residential property tax concerns in St. Albert.
Mayoral candidates
Nolan Crouse
Crouse said he had short term and long-term answers for the question.
In the short-term he said council needs to maintain the fiscally conservative approach of the past few years.
"I think what we need to do is maintain that two to three per cent philosophy," he said, referring to property tax increases.
In the long term, the non-residential tax base needs to be increased, he said.
Shelley Biermanski
Reducing property taxes has been part of her platform, Biermanski said.
To start, she'd like to get the city's books "in order."
"I still expect services to remain the best they possibly can in old and new areas," she said. "It's just doing the audit, getting all the services in order for people and then finding ways to cut costs in other areas," Biermanski said. She added many people feel a lot of tax money is wasted.
Norm Harley
"Reduce spending means a hiring freeze, capping salary increases … restructure pension plans and I'd eliminate two departments," Harley said. Those departments are Build St. Albert and economic development.
He'd also reduce subsidies for non-core services like transit and the library.
"We have to get a better balance there and we can do it by improved service," he said of the transit system.
Cathy Heron
"Tax increases have been low compared to the rest of the region and we have not sacrificed any services to achieve that," Heron said. She thinks many residents understand the lack of diversity in the tax base is the reason for high taxes.
She also believes St. Albert is on the cusp of diversifying its base more with incoming commercial and light industrial development.
The upcoming Municipal Government Act review will provide an opportunity to reassess the property tax model, she said. The city also needs to look at other revenue sources like grants.
John Goldsmith
"I think the crux of the residential property tax concerns is we seem to decide on things by ad hoc," Goldsmith said.
Too much money and time is spent on looking at things that don't align with the future, he said. The budget should align with priorities, he said.
"I think cost savings can be made without any drastic slash-and-burn cuts," Goldsmith said. The city should be more efficient, he said, and plan for not just today but tomorrow as well.
Sheena Hughes
Hughes said concerns are valid and taxes are climbing to the point where something has to be done. She called for the hiring of an internal auditor to show accountability.
"We are large enough that an internal auditor was overdue," Hughes said. Past decisions of council should be reviewed as well as part of the budget instead of just adding on, she said.
Ted Durham
Durham said the new council will have to take a serious look at the issue. "My plan is to put a motion forward that we freeze our taxes for 2014 meaning we have no tax increase," Durham said. The city has to learn how to live within the same budget but not cut services, Durham said.
Rather than having councillors make cuts from the budget, Durham said "we need to start off with the proper budget" being presented to council.
Gareth Jones
Council will have to be prudent during the budget process, Jones said, and give clear and precise direction to city staff.
"I believe efficiencies will have to be identified," Jones said.
On the revenue side, two things are important to his mind – forming partnerships with Sturgeon County and developers to work towards positive growth, and streamlining the development process by putting in place a municipal planning commission.
David Climenhaga
Finding a balance between controlling costs and maintaining the services that make St. Albert great is important to Climenhaga, who took aim at promises of no increases. "This strikes me as quite irresponsible," Climenhaga said.
In addition to finding efficiencies in St. Albert, Climenhaga would like to see tax revenues in the capital region shared more evenly.
He suggested servicing the land that's been zoned for light industrial to encourage growth there as well.
Cam MacKay
"The solution is pretty simple it's just that there's rarely any political will to do it and that's just to spend our money better," said MacKay.
Clear priorities need to be spent and the city needs to not try to be everything to everybody, MacKay said. St. Albert should take advantage of its location close to Edmonton and avoid duplication, he said.
"The other thing is just spending our money wisely. Do we need an LRT study? Do we need a downtown redevelopment plan?"
Mark Cassidy
Cassidy said there's two key factors he'd like to focus on. The first would be maintaining core services but finding efficiencies.
"I would also look at cutting out a lot of expenditures in other areas other than core services and focus on other entities that might be more needs oriented," Cassidy said.
More collaboration with the business community would help expand businesses, Cassidy said.
He'd like to look at making transit more efficient and wants to see some results from the economic development department.
Tim Osborne
There's no question property tax concerns are an issue, Osborne said.
"I think you have to start by looking at why our residential property taxes are high," Osborne said, noting part of that is a need to further diversify the tax base.
"I think there's potential savings we can look for in capital projects as well," Osborne said. "Property taxes are reaching a breaking point for many people in the community and the next council is going to have to be cognizant of that."
Hughena Burke
"Increase the commercial and light industrial because it is a bad percentage in terms of what comes in on residential versus the commercial side," Burke said.
When it comes to expenditures requested by special interest groups, councillors need to carefully weigh those requests. She noted there are some provincial initiatives like tax deferrals for seniors that would help address concerns.
Malcolm Parker
Parker said he'd like to start developing relationships with key players needed to move forward on filling the lands zoned for light industrial and commercial development.
"That's going to move us towards the thing we've been trying to move towards for many, many years," he said, referring to the diversification of the tax base.
Making sure people know St. Albert is a good place to start a business is also important, he said.
He also sees opportunities to find some efficiencies when it comes to services offered by the city.
Wes Brodhead
Brodhead said one way to address concerns is to keep up the fiscally responsible progress, keeping the tax increase low as council has done the past few years.
When it comes to other revenue sources, Brodhead's tired of talking about the ideal of a split between residential and non-residential tax revenue.
"I don't want to talk 80/20, what I want to talk is about ensuring that we bring business growth to the community," Brodhead said.
He'd also like there to be a debate about bringing in franchise fees.
Gilles Prefontaine
"The danger of arbitrarily cutting taxes is potentially corrupting the value which we see in living in this community," Prefontaine said.
He doesn't want to cut programs and amenities, and instead would like to grow business tax revenues. However, he'd like to see those grow by collaborating with the businesses, not taxing them more.
Spending should be monitored to ensure the right outcomes are being achieved, Prefontaine said.
Roger Bradley
"I think it's a multi-faceted solution to address that," Bradley said.
What he's keen on working on is increasing the non-residential tax base. With the business parks of St. Albert close to major arteries, St. Albert could promote them as gateways to the mega projects in the north.
"Internally I think we can always be applying lean or continual process improvements … to look for ways to do things more cost-effectively," Bradley said, adding an internal auditor has been recommended.
Bob Russell
"I'm serious about us freezing the hiring of any more senior people until council has a look at what's happening there," Russell said.
Russell would like to bring back the municipal planning commission and said St. Albert can't achieve the desired 80 per cent residential and 20 per cent non-residential tax split if council keeps allowing residential development where non-residential development was planned.
A halt needs to be called to the increasing costs of administration, he said, adding that increases have far exceeded the population growth.
