Fresh off a dismal turnout at the polls last month, St. Albert residents continued to turn out in paltry numbers when just 20 people took in a town hall meeting about the 2011 budget. Both events cement an ongoing disinterest with city hall and highlight the engagement obstacles ahead for a city council that has made reconnecting with the public a top priority.
On its own, the disinterest in the 2011 budget process is not a shocking development. The budget is a rather complex, and at times abstract, fiscal document that just doesn’t capture the interest of average residents who, understandably, are more transfixed by their busy lives. But when viewed in the context of overall public engagement with city hall, and that includes rows of empty seats in council chambers during most meetings and shrinking returns at the polls on election night, the no-show town hall meeting is another sign that residents either don’t care or city hall needs to rethink how it reaches out to the public.
For council there should be plenty of concerns, especially fresh off an election where just 34 per cent of voters cast ballots, despite a $10,000 ad blitz aimed at encouraging a wider demographic to vote. It would be easy for city council or administration to mistake the dwindling numbers (down three per cent from 2007) as a sign that residents are generally satisfied with city hall and subsequently in favour of the status quo. Perhaps that is true to some extent, but even so it’s a trend that can’t continue for city council to function as an elected body that represents the true interests of the entire community.
Council represents the government that has the greatest effect on residents’ day-to-day lives. Without city hall, roads would neither be built, repaired or cleared during snow storms, sidewalks would crumble, trash and recycling would stockpile, parks would decay, buildings would burn, there would be no one to operate many local social programs, neighbourhoods would stagnate and the list goes on. And without broad public support or input, council is in a tough position to implement a list of priorities and say this is in fact what the community wants.
The budget should be prime time for offering council guidance on how it spends property tax dollars. For instance, does St. Albert, a city that already has one of the lowest violent crime rates in the province, need four more RCMP officers? Everyone wants to live in a safe community, but at the end of the day are you willing to put your tax dollars on the line to the tune of $363,000 next year and about $500,000 annually (slightly less than a one per cent tax increase)? The budget also calls for a new photo radar camera, but have residents seen enough evidence that the technology keeps roads safer and isn’t the cash cow critics call it?
The list of what’s not in the budget is even longer, including a long-term maintenance program for local playgrounds ($280,000 a year), a greenhouse gas emissions action plan ($40,000), maintenance for parks and snow removal on sidewalks, plus snow and ice removal on roads and pavement maintenance (roughly $200,000 annually per program). Public transit will not run on holidays after, yet again, the $40,000 cost did not make it onto the funded list, nor did the $143,000 in 2011 to implement a strategy to bring more special events to St. Albert.
Perhaps the biggest head scratcher, given council’s desire to reach out to residents, is the omission of $30,000 to live-stream council meetings online, with an accessible archive of past sessions. It should be a no-brainer to take advantage of technology that’s been around for a while, and in fact should be expected of all Alberta municipalities in the interest of openness and civic engagement. Furthering that theme, perhaps council should consider a budget request to hold regular town hall-style sessions with the public instead of an annual check-in a few weeks before budget approval. It doesn’t have to be elaborate or expensive, just a room, maybe some coffee and plenty of two-way conversation. Heck, hold it in Servus Credit Union Place and bring the kids, who could play for free in the indoor playground. St. Albert prides itself as a city with a small town feel. Sometimes it doesn’t hurt to act the part.
