Every few years municipal leaders, tired of playing poor second cousin to posh relatives in the legislature and Parliament, rattle a few sabres in defence of the underfunded city. After all, building great cities requires a predictable, sustainable revenue stream to pay for expensive modern services like new roads, sewers, mass transit and recreation centres. As any municipal politician will gladly tell you at tax time, cities only get eight cents on every tax dollar collected by government.
A few years ago, it was the minister’s Council on Municipal Sustainability that recommended new taxation powers for cities, a report that included input from Alberta municipalities. It went nowhere as provincial politicians protected their turf under the guise of protecting taxpayers, leaving municipal leaders to squeeze their property tax stone. Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi is the latest to take up the mantle, arguing big cities like his are larger than some provinces yet when it comes to funding are handcuffed at every turn. The fact there’s someone new in the premier’s office to hear the message gives city leaders everywhere at least some hope. Perish the thought.
Don’t get me wrong: St. Albert taxpayers’ dollars are spent more or less responsibly. I might not agree with every spending decision (and who does?) but it’s not like city council is out spending money like drunken sailors. For one, they don’t have the cash to buy land for snow storage let alone a tropical island for when their sea legs grow weary.
The 2012-14 capital budget, frankly, reads like this: “we’re broke.” That may sound surprising given the $103.7-million price tag, but keep in mind more than $40 million of that falls under “fingers crossed,” a unique budget line item where the city hopes that this is the year the province comes through with funding for Ray Gibbon Drive stage three ($17 million in 2012) and a south park and ride ($35 million with $23.2 million from the province). The rest of the budget is filled with much smaller expenses to upkeep of city roads, sidewalks, parks and transit, with a few new amenities like a BMX park, beautification at city entrances, and a modest investment in heritage preservation.
Many more projects — $134 million worth — fall off the radar for a few more years on the “unfunded” list. The unfunded list is but a whiff of the damage a city could do if it only had a few more pennies to rub together. Pet projects from councils past are still buried deep below the line, many to languish until they’re politically irrelevant. That’s where you’ll find the second through fourth phases of the heritage park, along with everything related to downtown revitalization. There are also expensive new buildings — a re-imagined seniors’ club, museum expansion, RCMP office space, Servus Place expansions, among others. Some projects gather dust so long they get pushed back a decade or more. Remember the city hall annex? It doesn’t make an appearance until 2021. Six years ago, we were told it was a major priority due to city hall bursting at the seams from overcrowding. Another example is fire hall No. 1, originally set to begin last year, and now waiting until 2015.
While many changes are due to philosophical differences between councils, the unfunded list shows a major disconnect between which projects are actually needed, which are priorities in waiting, which are “nice to have” and which are the result of someone’s big dreams. Cities do need predictable funding to keep services flowing, but new taxation powers could result in too many dreams becoming nightmares for taxpayers.
Bryan Alary is a former Gazette editor and city hall reporter.
