Provincial Funding Distribution

Reaction is mixed around the region after Mandel’s move to direct more provincial funding his way and centralize power in the hands of the mega cities. According to Mandel there is an imbalance in provincial grant allocations that favour regional neighbours and work against the City. (page 8, State of the City Address).    

 An example used was policing costs. It is true that both Edmonton and Strathcona County receive a $16 per cap to support their policing services. Our municipality does receive an additional small grant to cover two additional police positions.  Some municipalities receive more.

The provincial funding formula also supports investment in cities that give them tremendous benefits. Universities and specialty medical centres receive massive amounts of taxpayer dollars and are placed in metro centres with dense populations because that makes the most cost effective use of taxpayers’ dollars.

Universities are used by the surrounding communities, but the economic spin off benefits both the province and the City of Edmonton. The spending power of U of A students and employees together is estimated at $5.2 billion annually, with approximately $4.5 billion of that spending occurring in Alberta, mainly in the greater Edmonton area. 

Regional municipalities envy the significant provincial tax payer dollars used in cities to build and maintain specialized medical facilities like the Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute. When our children and elders are seriously ill, when our families are in their greatest stress, we travel hours to have access to specialized hospitals, funded with our taxpayer dollars.

I believe provincial grants are justifiable in long term sustainability of a population that needs to be spread through our province in regional centres and rural areas to provide the food, products, jobs and homes. This is about regional cooperation and communication and the need for more of it. 

Edmonton Sees Annexation as a Fiscal Solution?

Mayor Stephen Mandel in his State of the City focused in on his solutions to his City’s financial issues, at the expense of his neighbours.

Edmontonians and citizens from neighbouring municipalities heard Mandel say “When I see a growing regional partnership once again devolve into myopic self-interest, I worry that petty competition will block our true potential.”

There are indeed self interests at play in this region, as was seen at a February Capital Region Board meeting where Mandel vetoed Parkland's motion to develop Acheson industrial area inside their own boundary, using the Boards voting formula based on population to defeat the plan. Later he told press that he wanted to protect Edmonton’s right to future annexation. Within a month regional citizens learned of Edmonton’s annexation of the Leduc County.

Mandel sites his rational as two fold. He says that the county does not have the capacity to pay the estimated billions in infrastructure costs, leaving the Province to pay for new roads, LRT and overpasses. Mandel also noted later that Edmonton needs to grow and that “significant portions of the potential tax base of the region can use boundaries to escape paying a fair share”. 

In the State of the City address, Mandel noted that small municipalities receive a disproportionate share of policing, infrastructure, affordable housing and other grants, while the regional growth plan remains half-done, he said, calling on the province to re-engage in the issue. The next day in a television interview he repeated that there are inequities and that teeth must be put into the regional structure.

Just to balance this picture with some fiscal facts.

• Edmonton is the second largest recipient of MSI funding in the province, after Calgary.
• Edmonton’s population of 850,000 received over $170 million in transfers from the province.
• The 24 surrounding municipalities, with a population of 350,000 received about 70 million in MSI funding this year. 

When compared on a per capita basis, these numbers don’t translate to any significant inequities. These municipal infrastructure funds are paid by the taxpayers of Alberta, including the Capital Region, Calgary, and rural Alberta. The taxes our residents pay are meant to be used in a fair manner for the betterment of all citizens.

Now let’s talk about the 23 smaller municipalities that make up the capital region. Citizens of the Capital Region contribute indirectly to the economy of Edmonton, through shopping in the capital region, working in the capital region etc. Edmonton is the net beneficiary through taxation of those businesses. Residents of Strathcona County and the other surrounding municipalities will not directly benefit from the investment in a new Hockey arena, but Mandel wants provincial money for it.

Mandel takes issue that ‘Edmonton receives $16 per cap allocation on policing while many  neighbours have their policing costs funded 100% by the province”.

Having approved a costly policing budget every year, I can tell you that Strathcona County pays the cost of our own policing. Mandel states that they ‘often pay the region’s share for link up roads to the Henday’. I do however know that Strathcona County pays for linkages to all provincial highways and all transit within our borders. Doesn’t most of the Henday actually lay within Edmonton’s boundary? We also supply commuter service to Edmonton so that the 450 Edmonton companies that service the oil industry and the provincial government have staff. Our own residents pay for this inter-municipal service. Like many of the surrounding municipalities, we have our own comprehensive medical facility (albeit not open yet), courthouse, schools.

Mandel holds up Calgary’s annexation model as a solution for Edmonton. “the ability to annex – and keep 90% of the regional residential and industrial tax assessment within its boundaries has made a fundamental difference”.

No doubt!

But a fiscal solution for a large metro area should not come at the cost of the small municipalities and rural areas. The wave impacts of mega metro sprawl have its downside at the provincial level and a dramatic effect on the surrounding municipalities.

The fiscal ask just keeps getting larger. It is folly to feed the metro appetite by carving up our smaller municipalities. 

Toronto would be a good example of a city allowed to gobble up its neighbours and the resulting issues. Another city feeling the consequences of urban sprawl is Detroit which expanded outwards and is now trying to get citizens to move to the core. In this economy it is not able to service such a large area.

Cities around the world facing space constraints have taken up this model with the recognition that it cuts the costs for them to service a larger area by keeping their citizens in a more contained space, reducing costs for street maintenance, policing, fire, etc.

A fiscal solution for a large metro area should not come at the cost of the small municipalities and rural areas. Edmonton needs to strengthen its focus on self sufficiency and efficiencies not unrestricted growth to solve its problems. 

Enhanced cooperation within the Capital Region Board is the key to a better future for all municipalities; equitable cooperation and collaboration not annexation will insure our shared prosperity.

Transit Terminal /Enviro Recycling Centre

The transit terminal /environ project has soared from its cost estimates of 22.4 million to 29.3 million, a 6.9 million dollar increase since it was last presented to Council. Of the 22.4 million, the Provincial Green Trip fund program provided 13.6 million for the Transit Terminal.

Council was advised of the project cost overrun in January 2013 and then was faced with the 6.9 million dollar decision at the March 12^th Council meeting.

Why the Need for this Project?

In 2007/2008 administration was struggling with the lack of parking at the Transit Centres and awkward routes built for a much smaller urban area of two decades ago. In 2011, parking deteriorated when the province ended the lease for the utilities corridor on Wye Road, eliminating 400 parking spots.

Throughout this time Transit formed a plan to address the route restructuring that would increase convenience and efficiency to transit travel. It became clear that more land and a larger terminal building were required for our growing community. Administration built a case to construct a large transit centre at the Bethel site with plans to revitalize and add a building to the existing environmental yard.

But Why the 6.9 million dollar hit to our reserves?

Early in the planning, a decision was made to combine the tenders of these two projects, located on the same piece of land, to gain construction efficiencies. Unfortunately this decision limited options for Council. The risk of joining these two projects was not recognized and speaks to a need to review the process. 

We could have saved the county roughly 3.9 million dollars had we been able to do as I proposed:  defer the Enviro Building to a future time. We could not do this with the tenders joined as they were. I would have supported the Transit Terminal and asked for a tender separation to phase in the Enviro Facility at a later date.

 It strikes me as somewhat unbalanced that Council approved increased urban service with the new 3.9 million dollar Enviro Building while last year decreasing rural service by slashing our two small rural enviro centres. This is contrary to a Council budget direction to maintain current services and avoid service increases that would reflect in operational and capital spending increases.

In addition to this, consultant reports did not capture the true cost of low land reclamation or provide accurate estimates on the geophysical issues that both Administration and Council knew were inherent on that site with the end result adding millions of dollars to the overruns.

So where are we now?

 So, let’s look at what we have got. In this plan we have a Transit Terminal that is unique to the region. It is the second largest Park ‘n Ride in the Capital Region and is the third largest centre in Alberta.  There are 1200 parking spaces, which provide a response to our residents’ complaints. The centre also boasts 20 bays to handle the proposed improvements to local bus routes that will improve transit efficiency. These changes are expected to handle our growth needs into the next few decades.

 We are left with some lessons to learn and use in the future. This was not exclusively “an administrative error”, as noted in an apology from the Commissioner. The Mayor and Council were privy to every step that was taken. Leadership means taking responsibility and accountability.

The way forward?

Strathcona County is a booming community – it reminds me of where Alberta was a decade or two ago. As we build this community we must place cautious spending and wise investment at the centre of a new way of doing business, now and into the future.

References:

http://www.strathcona.ca/files/Files/at-lls-arm-2013_03_12-Report_14a.pdf

http://www.sherwoodparknews.com/2013/03/14/transit-centre-over-budget

Strathcona County Hospital

Fourteen months from now, you and I will be walking into a brand new mega medical facility, called phase one. This 130 million dollar facility will be 24/7 Urgent Care.

I noticed in one of the budget reports that there is $50 million remaining in the capital plan, including $28 million in costs after the facility opens. If $28 million has been held back for additional services in the phase 1 fiscal plan, is this not an opportunity to use it for additional diagnostics and medical services?

Planning, building and maintaining hospitals and schools is indeed under provincial jurisdiction. However, as a municipal elected official, I believe we do have a role to play. If we truly want to benefit our taxpayers, we will not blame the government for a negative economic climate that brought delays and cut backs all over Alberta, but we could instead support their efforts to get phase one up and running to offer top rate medical services to our families. We can do that by working with the community to identify a clear set of priorities for this hospital as it moves forward.

We can ask our residents and doctors to identify what services are critical (like 24-hour urgent care) and which have the highest need in our area. This will allow us as a community to better lobby for what we want. Each hospital offers a unique blend of services. What set of services is best for this community? Do we need a birthing unit or neonatal care facility; a dialysis unit or rehabilitation services?

Moreover, it is time we think regionally, let’s stop naval gazing. We need to plan not only for the needs of our own municipality...but to look at what complements the existing medical services of the hospitals near us. Doesn’t it make sense to look at the waiting lines for scopes and dialysis in Edmonton? If we had those services here, it would reduce wait times in their facilities. Once we meet our own demands we could provide additional capacity for the region.

We need to be proactive to ensure that our new mega facility will meet our needs. Let’s do needs assessment: clearly identify our service needs, create a clear list, and then lobby government for that list. By working together with local doctors and MLA's, and regional stakeholders toward a common cause, we can truly benefit the health and well being of our residents.

As to the full service phase 2 hospital, with its 72 beds - I believe that is today’s fiscal set-back, not tomorrow’s certainty.

I understand that our MLA’s have been working industriously with the Premiere and the Health Minister to keep phase 2 on the top burner. This province releases an annual budget, and as the fortunes of Alberta rise again, and if we work together with our provincial government, I can see both an expanded hospital and a new courthouse in Strathcona County in our near future. I look forward to this Friday’s Sherwood Park News and the update from our MLAs.

Join me tomorrow (Thursday from 4 to 6) at the Summerwood Second Cup to have more conversation on what your family needs in phase one opening June 2014.

ON THE BUSES

In January, a flood of complaints reached the elected officials offices about transit. The calls were from commuters – both students and people going to jobs.

I decided it was time that I got off the phone and onto the bus, so I called a friend and asked if her husband would agree to be my bus buddy for my first run from Oak Street into downtown metro. I do mean my first trip – in a few decades! I drove the Ford pickup truck to his house, realized I did not have exact change, did not even know the fare. Once my $ 5.25 was in my pocket, and we walked briskly to the stop I felt a little better. He went to the back of the bus while I got to know my fellow transit riders up front.

I spent the next few weeks taking different routes to the Edmonton Library and City Hall as well as to Grant MacEwan and the U of A run. I have to tell you I met a lot of great people – many of whom took their earplugs out and were kind enough to tell me about overcrowding and their frustrations that Strathcona County Transit does not use open data and apps to offer fundamental customer service: Trip Planners, Detours, maps and buying online….all the basics provided by Edmonton Transit. I was amazed when I got back and googled ‘Edmonton Transit’ then ‘Strathcona Transit’ the difference is like game boys compared to black and white TV! Try it – you will wonder as I did what in heck is going on.

Apparently #sctransit is an existing hashtag for twitter and facebook. When I tried it I got Santa Clarita buses! I suggest we claim back our own hash tag and use it often when we experience delays, have issues, or just want to say thanks.  

I also experienced their dissatisfaction about parking (or lack thereof). I could only console myself and my new transit friends with the fact that that new Bethal Terminal will open up in December with 1200 parking spaces.

About the overcrowding…it seemed that Transit did not handle the back from vacation volumes well at all. Apparently all the scheduled buses were operating but there were not as many additional non scheduled buses as there could have been. As a result the numbers of transit riders standing as the commuter buses rumbled from Wye and Baseline terminals into the metro area was unacceptable.

The idea of adding buses is good: overload buses are added or reduced on-the-fly as passenger volumes warrant, just not shown on the time tables. This system improves cost-effectiveness without changing published time tables. But we need to be more flexible and faster as we evaluate the transit rider volumes.

Students tell me that there is also some misalignment between when classes start and end. Seems to me we need to check out those class schedules every semester.  

One woman told me about the need for bus drivers to look before they pull out and take an extra few seconds to wait if they see someone running, slipping and sliding towards the bus door.

I have to say that the high point of almost every trip was the bus driver. They almost all smiled and greeted me and other riders. And when I asked stupid questions…like so what is the closest stop to the Sutton Place?...they did not laugh.

Each weekday, 58 buses service 27 routes and carry four thousand passengers. And best of all, they offer us almost stress free travel into a traffic congested city. We can read, tweet or just listen to our IPods as the drivers safely deliver us to school and work. That really is not a bad deal for $10.50 a day.  

See You On the Bus,

Roxanne Carr

Councilor, Ward 2, Strathcona County

Roxanne.Carr@Strathcona.ca

780.464.8002

Council Meeting Highlights for Jan. 8, 2013

More details and information on all of the background reports andminutes.

Webcast

To get the full flavour of how decisions are made tune into the webcast. The webcast is timed and titled so that you can refer immediately to the specific agenda items.

Cavalry Statue

Discussion centered on the merits of a ‘Cavalry Soldier and Horse Monument’ that will cost a quarter of a million dollars.

Some felt that this would be a suitable and fitting honour to Strathcona County’s military families. I am saddened that this amount of money could be misspent on a project that has had no input from the very stakeholders it represents – our veterans, the art community and public. Not only were our residents not consulted, but it seems out of sync with our new community branding and existing public art. I have already had calls from two military families that are suggesting that the money could be spent on more current concerns. 

Personally, I can think of forty other projects that would greatly benefit from the use of a quarter of a million of taxpayer’s dollars. It seems odd that the municipality is taking the bit in it’s teeth on this project. After much debate the project was referred back to administration to review costs and locations and hopefully to engage stakeholders and potential interested private funders.  

Give your opinion on the opinion poll on www.CouncillorCarr.com

Youth Pilot Projects Update

Administration presented an update on recent research and various programs available to youth in Strathcona County. Given that youth from age 10 to 24 make up more than 21% of our population, it behooves this municipality to put efforts and resources into proactive and prevention programs. Surveys and focus group results came up with suggestions that make a lot of sense: upgrade Millennium Place youth area to become a ‘one stop shop’ where kids could connect with youth workers that could provide knowledgeable assistance to bullying, dealing, mental/emotional stressors and family disruptions issues.

The KEYS and Family School Liason program were cited as invaluable to students. The new mentoring project has been hailed as successful.

Thisis a great read for all residents interested in how their municipality is responding to current youth issues. 

Mature Neighbourhood Strategy

There has been confusion and frustration leveled at the municipality from homeowners in the mature neighbourhoods since this process began. After Council discussion, administration was asked to alter course. 

A greater amount of public participation and contribution is needed. Since this project was initiated I have been asking for a greater level of public collaboration. 

The consultation started off well with a panelist session that included a realtor resident, developer, builder and representative of community interests. Citizen Circles were formed. The municipal role has been to obtain feedback. It has been lacking a two way dialogue that will impart more perspectives, goals, plans, and expectations. 

Many residents felt that they were being asked for their opinions without a thorough understanding of what was ‘going on’.  There was confusion which resulted in many home owners thinking that the goal of the municipality was to increase density in our oldest neighbourhoods. Residents felt that revitalization, protection of architectural character and neighbourhood personality seemed not to be of great importance in the conversation. 

I still believe this entire process needs to be directed by the residents themselves.  Residents need to be the ones to contribute directly, to advise in the development of solutions, make recommendations and alternatives that will mold the decisions on how we revitalize and redevelop our neighbourhoods in the future. There is a gap in where we are to where we need to be in the process for it to be as collaborative as it needs to be.

Administration has indicates they will be retooling the process and timeline to accommodate this need. It will start with a participatory workshop for all stakeholder residents and businesses in the Community Centre Agora to explore the findings together. 

Citizens On Patrol (C.O.P.) Reports to Council

President Ruth Shewfelt presented to Council on the achievements of one of our high profile volunteer groups. Citizens on Patrol is a volunteer group that believes in safer neighbourhoods.  

Acting as the extra eyes and ears for the Strathcona RCMP, Citizens On Patrol members patrol urban and rural neighbourhoods throughout the County night and day to help keep our communities safe and trouble free.

A group of about fifty members have an impressive record of helping our community. This past year they logged almost 2,000 patrol hours and recorded more than 22,000 kilometres throughout our rural and urban roads. In that time, members recorded hundreds of observations. A resulting 130 calls were made to the RCMP dispatch.

Citizens on Patrol members do so much in our community. You will see them in their Speed Watch vests out on our residential streets. Last year they put in 236 hours monitoring traffic.

These volunteers also assist RCMP at high-profile community events such as

New Years and July first events, the Terry Fox Run, the Josephburg Christmas Train, “Rural Living Days” in Ardrossan, South Cooking Lake's “Trail Days”, special Halloween patrols, Emergency Preparedness, Victim Services Walk and Run event, the Cancer Relay For

Life and the local Trade Fair. 

During the major fires in the northern part of the County, they assisted with road blockades. If you are interested in getting involved in a group that makes a big difference in our community, please contact 780.449.0164 

E News Bulletin

I send out an E News Bulletin four times a month to residents. It is an opportunity for me to inform you of events and matters of interest to your family and neighbours in a timely manner. These electronic news flashes also help me to get your input and touch base with you. You are welcome to sign up at roxanne.carr@strathcona.ca

Budget 2013

I had hoped that this budget would be one of revitalization of our organization based upon the Russell Farmer Organizational Report ‘Pursuit of Excellence’.

That is not to be.

The 87 recommendations of the organizational wide review are not being released until the new Commissioner does a detailed analysis of the recommendations, and works with Council to select and prioritize the recommendations that ‘fit’ with our community’s immediate and long term needs.

Until then Council needed to deal with the budget put before us...an overall ask of 4.9% tax rate increase that contained some ambitious capital and planning projects as well as programs.

Council pared that budget down to 2.6 %. Why not more? Why not less?

It’s a balance of maintaining services; trying to maintain user fees at reasonable levels while trying to absorb the increasing costs that are passed on from utility providers; and maintaining the right mix of capital projects that support our community’s quality of life objectives.

Capital plans included: 

·      $ .25 mill to plan a new fire hall (AIMP grant funded)*

·      $ 1 mill for modernization of another fire station(MSI)*

·      $ 2 mill for old County Hall renovations (MSI)*

·      $ 2.6 mill to fund Emerald Hills aquatic/wellness centre (surplus)

·      $ 1.3 mill to build a specialized fire training centre

·      1.74 mill for the Spray Park (surplus)

·      $ .75 mill to build a parking lot adjacent to turf field and ABJ (surplus)

The new fire hall planning, modernizations of the existing firehall and County Hall renovations were deferred*. I have seen this organization, its enthusiasm, take on more than it can handle. I have seen building project after project delayed, in part due to lack of internal resources. I believe that delay of these projects will free up valuable human and material resources to focus our energies and dollars more tightly and efficiently on community projects and places that contribute to health and wellness.

While there were many excellent projects brought forward; this budget needed to support our community’s social capital: projects and programs that focus on health, wellness and universal accessibility.

 I say: let’s emulate an athlete:  take a breather, bulk up for our endurance race to come....the implementation of the organizational review recommendations.

Some major business initiatives that are approved to proceed are:

·      Safety, inspection and fire prevention program

·      Risk mitigation in rural neighbourhoods

·      Open date portal and Civic Reporter program

·      Support program for children experiencing violence

·      Youth intervention program

·      RCMP extended front counter service

·      Specialized transit Service Restructure

Strathcona County Council has a mix of places to draw from at budget time. There is MSI (provincial municipal infrastructure funding); reserves; surplus (this year amounting to approximately 9.4 million); and debt financing.

Council has to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of how and where to use these funding sources. Sometimes using debt for long term large community projects contributes to the right formula to amortize the construction to create fair intergenerational equity. Utilizing our surplus has been something Council has been advised against drawing on for other than ‘one time more capital oriented projects’.

This year, Council utilized over a 2.66 million dollars from that surplus toward funding the budget. I believe that it behooves any private or public business to ensure that there is a prudent use of surpluses and reserves, but I do think the time has come to review Council’s policy and philosophy on utilizing surpluses toward tax and debt reduction, as requested by the county’s Chamber of Commerce. Council passed a motion to review the surplus policy at the end of budget session.