So, the chickens are coming home to roost. Five months ago, in two letters to the editor, I warned the citizens of St. Albert of the consequences of city council's decision to raise utility rates by 20 per cent, and my warnings fell on deaf ears. Now, the people who I identified as being most impacted by this increase are finally starting to speak up. Please, let your voices continue to be heard often and loud, until this egregious policy is rescinded.
What is at the rotten core of this increase? It's in the handout that the city sent with your utility bill a few months ago, which states, “the city will phase out over the next five years the current grant funding (provincial or federal grants), which is used to subsidize repair and replacement work on utility infrastructure. The grants, for as long as they are available, will instead be used only for municipal capital projects.”
In other words, the taxes you pay to the provincial and federal government, that those politicians have decided are best applied to keep our utilities reasonable have been co-opted by this administration and council, because apparently, federal and provincial politicians are idiots, and city council and administration know better how to spend your money. Instead, your money that should be used to keep utility costs in this city reasonable, will be used on “municipal capital projects” – known otherwise as council's and administration’s “wish list” of building monuments to themselves. The code words in the budget, for your information are “business case,”
When I brought this issue up with city council, only Councillors Sheena Hughes and Cam MacKay responded to me, and voted against this policy – twice.
Too much that is happening within St. Albert's senior administration and city council simply does not pass the smell test these days – the situation of a sitting city councillor voting on budget matters to fund city administration, while at the same time himself applying for a senior administrative position with the city. If that doesn't smell rotten, I don't know what does.
Tony Kryzanowski, St. Albert
