Council approves budget
Property taxes to go up 1.82 per cent per year for the next four years
The City of Lethbridge has a new four-year operating budget. After six days of deliberations — one Budget. additional day of finance committee discussion and amendments, and on the second attempt at council — members gave final approval in a 7-2 vote on Monday to the 2019-22 Operating
Lethbridge taxpayers will see an average increase to the municipal portion of their residential property tax of 1.82 per cent per year for the next four years. The increase works out to an average of $3.50 per month on an average single-family residential home with an assessed value of $267,300.
Mayor Chris Spearman says the budget involved several strategic priorities, as well as a response to safety concerns resulting from the community drug crisis. He also said the budget will help build in financial accountability, limit the tax impact on residents and help absorb inflation and community growth pressures.
“I’m confident the new budget, along with the mechanisms we’ve put in place to evaluate and monitor spending, will create the balance we need,” Spearman said.
“I think we listened to the citizens and we listened to the downtown businesses. We wanted to focus on community safety, so those were the initiatives that were approved: the Watch program from the City and the Community Peace Officers. We funded the police new initiatives and basically we held the line on the core budget. It’s the lowest tax increase in decades.”
“We have sharpened the pencil, don’t get me wrong,” said Coun. Blaine Hyggen, who along with Coun. Joe Mauro, voted against passing the budget.
“I really think that our city manager has taken the advice from council. But I just think there’s more that we could have done. I’ve heard everything from the flagpoles to different organizations — we could have tightened down a little bit more. For that reason, being not in favour of a lot of things during this budget process, I decided to not be in favour of it. There was some frustrations, but I do respect council and their decision to move forward with this budget.”
At the start of formal budget deliberations on Nov. 19, Lethbridge City Council directed City Manager Bram Strain to undertake an independent fiscal performance review over the next three years. Also, funding approvals on many initiatives were reduced from four years down to one or two years and will be followed by asking for a report back with more information from that fiscal performance review before further funding is considered.
The biggest addition to the new budget will come in the form of investment in public safety. Council approved a Downtown Ambassador Watch Program and will add special constables/peace officers. Collectively, these initiatives provide an additional $1.1 million in 2019 and $1.2 million in 2020 to address increased demand on the Lethbridge Police Service.
This special constable program will seek to hire 15 fully trained but less experienced staff within the LPS as either Peace Officers or Special Police Constables. Council will hear a report back after the first two years before considering an additional $1.4 million in 2021 and $1.44 million in 2022.
The Watch Program, at a cost of $554,272 in 2019 and $601,722 in 2020, will use a combination of trained staff and volunteers to provide a presence in the downtown — to help address concerns and improve the perception of public safety. Council will hear a report back after the first two years before considering an additional $761,802 in 2021 and $768,202 in 2022.
Other highlights of the 2019 to 2022 budget include: $1 million per year for 2020-22 for Lethbridge Airport governance and operations, for when the City of Lethbridge takes over in 2020; $42,500 in 2019 and 2020 to provide safety and security of the downtown public spaces such as Galt Gardens and public buildings such as SAAG and Casa; $82,064 in 2019 to increase public and employee security and the perception of public safety at the downtown branch of the Lethbridge Public Library; $155,000 in 2019 for the Syringe Collection Program; up to $150,000 for the installation of up to four flag poles in front of Lethbridge City Hall to permanently fly the Blackfoot Confederacy and Reconciliation Lethbridge flags and provide additional space for community groups; and $900,000 for 2020-22 on an Adaptive Reuse Initiative for the Heart of our City Committee to create an incentive grant program that would facilitate the continued use of existing downtown buildings.
Any funding remaining for the Committees of Council at the end of the operating budget cycle will be transferred to the Municipal Revenue Stabilization Reserves (MRSR) rather than being carried over.