St. Albert will continue to be a community of choice for the families that can afford the higher cost of housing and property taxes that come with it. That long-standing vision for our city isn’t about to change as Mayor Nolan Crouse redoubles his energies on ensuring residents understand the value they receive for their property tax dollars and at the same time quieting troublesome queries about the upward trending of city hall spending and whether the ends — the size of the bureaucracy and services offered — actually do justify the means — tax bills.
During an editorial board meeting with the Gazette Crouse pointed to a laundry list of services and amenities that St. Albert offers that some municipalities don’t — services that have a direct impact on quality of life even if residents take it for granted or fail to notice. That would include more frequent tree trimming that results in branches able to withstand the windstorms that wrought havoc in Edmonton a few weeks ago, to the hospital that cares for our sick, the police that keep crime rates low, to the festivals and green space for recreational pursuits, including the Sturgeon River — a natural feature a city like Leduc can’t offer. In short, St. Albert has a lot going for it that distinguishes it from the rest in the region, and that kind of premium is going to come with a cost.
The problem with the value-for-taxes argument is the difficulty in making true apples to apples comparisons, and the subjectivity that’s often involved. As a result residents hear a lot of St. Albert offering ‘high quality’ or ‘unparalleled’ services in the region with little to back it up. Anecdotally, we recognize there are services the city offers that seem to outpace other municipalities — snow clearing, road repair and parks upkeep being among the most visible. But there are many others — garbage collection, recycling, sewer upkeep, arts venues, recreation centres — that are indistinguishable to places like Strathcona County, Fort Saskatchewan or even Edmonton.
And while we agree St. Albert is a beautiful community and residents want to keep it that way, there’s also a limit to how much people are willing to pay. The evidence is all around us including St. Albert’s slow rate of growth, typically less than one per cent a year — smaller than most communities in the region — and demographic — two full years older than the rest of the region. St. Albert topped Today’s Parent magazine’s best place to raise children with gushing praise and claims like St. Albert has “loads of kids.” The data shows otherwise, with the number of school-aged children (five to 19) in St. Albert actually dropping between 2005 and 2010, according to city census data. In 2008, the only other category that showed a negative was the one to which many new families belong — young adults aged 30 to 34, which fell 3.5 per cent (a census reporting change prevents a 2010 comparison). We suggest the title of Today’s Parent’s best place to raise children ranking could be missing the words “if you can afford it.”
Another danger of the value for taxes argument is its potential use as a smokescreen to justify spending. Crouse has grown frustrated and weary with voices of dissent like the St. Albert Taxpayers’ Association, which has questioned individual budget expenses and the overall trend in spending. And while the association’s hard-line fiscal stance isn’t exactly a recipe for community building, they do ask difficult and necessary questions like how spending and staffing levels at city hall can dramatically outstrip the pace of growth. The fact St. Albert has a river, a hospital or low crime don’t even come close to answering such questions. Meanwhile, there are many other questions that come to mind, like how to deal with costs like an upgraded fire hall No. 1, new downtown library, new RCMP detachment, and transit park and rides to name but a few capital projects on the horizon. Thrown into the mix is St. Albert’s inability to make gains in non-residential growth and the prospect of an 80-20 split likely decades away. We missed the last boom and are a long way from positioning St. Albert to take advantage of the next.
Crouse says he’ll focus on maintaining the quality of life St. Albert residents have come to enjoy. That kind of suburban bliss is a great place to call home — if you can afford it.
