Council to hear options on Lethbridge & District Exhibition financing
By Lethbridge Herald on December 9, 2024.
Lethbridge city council will be discussing options for funding the operating costs of the Lethbridge & District Exhibition in 2025.
Herald photo by Al BeeberAl Beeber – LETHBRIDGE HERALD – abeeber@lethbridgeherald.com
Lethbridge city council will meet today to discuss options for funding the operating costs of the Lethbridge & District Exhibition in 2025.
The meeting starts at 9:30 a.m. in council chambers.
Council, acting as Economic and Finance Standing Policy Committee, recently heard a recommendation from the City’s Chief Financial Officer to raise taxes by 2.24 per cent on top of the scheduled 5.1 per cent increase to pay the $4.1 million operating costs of the LDE.
The City manager was tasked at the end of the second day of SPC meetings on Nov.26-27 to return to council with a plan to continue on with the review of the ED including determining the amount and source of funding in conjunction with the other budget requests.
If council approves that extra increase, taxpayers will see a total property tax hike of 7.3 per cent next year.
CEO Darrell Mathews will be providing that exploration of additional options at the meeting which is scheduled to be council’s last of 2024.
In other matters, councillor Jeff Carlson on Tuesday will be presenting an official business motion regarding the Pay As You Go plan for Utility-funded projects.
His motion is calling on council to “direct Administration to draft a policy to implement a Pay As You Go program to fund utility-supported capital projects for future projects with long-term benefits, major rehabilitation or upgrades to existing assets, and emerging requirements to support corporate or regulatory priorities and strategic plans” and that the new policy be presented to council for consideration by the end of the second quarter of 2025.
His motion says that the City approved a PAYG program in 1991 and it was implemented in 1994. It notes that the program “helps fund the costs of recurring tax-supported capital projects, and from which a portion of money is held in reserve to make debt payments for tax-supported capital projects.”
And it points out that “capital expenditures for the Water, Wastewater, Electric and Waste Utilities will be required for projects with long-term benefits, major rehabilitation or upgrades to existing assets, and emerging requirements to support corporate or regulatory priorities and strategic plans.”
Carlson is also co-sponsoring with Belinda Crowson an OBM regarding full-time equivalent positions. The motion states that the past practice of the City seeking council approval of FTE positions “adds a layer to the administrative process of hiring employees, thereby decreasing Administration’s ability to make employment decisions in the most efficient and timely manner possible” and that administration needs to be empowered to meet or exceed service level expectations established by council and city citizens in a cost-effective manner.
The motion says that the past practice isn’t aligned with the City Manager Bylaw, Section 7.2 (b) which states that the City Manager has authority to hire employees “and establish the structure of the Administration provided that such changes do not result in any change in level of service to the community.”
Their motion states that the City Manager’s approval of FTEs would enhance the efficiency of hiring people into permanent positions rather than term positions when their services are required on an ongoing basis” and notes it’s typically more difficult to attract and retain the most qualified people for term positions than for permanent ones.
“City Manager approval of FTEs would significantly enhance the organization’s ability to adapt to meet service level targets in the most cost- and operationally effective manner possible,” says the motion which calls on council to clarify and confirm that the City Manager has authority to make staffing decisions and approve FTEs.
Crowson will also present an OBM calling on council to direct administration to draft an asset management strategy that “defines the corporation’s high-level, long-term approach” and present it to the Economic and Finance Standing Policy Committee – which includes all council members – by the second quarter of 2025.
The motion states that asset management is critical to effective planning as well as maintaining and operating infrastructure on both short- and long-term basis.
Council will also be asked to give second and third reading to several bylaws, one of them being Bylaw 6473 2025 Election – Replacement Election Bylaw which must be adopted by Dec. 31. This bylaw contains an optional clause which allows local authorities to require criminal checks for candidates as part of their nomination filings. No wording exists in the draft bylaw regarding criminal checks but it will be added if council wishes.
19-18
The pay as you go program is damn near as old as Carlson has been on council. 1994. He will be declared a visionary, albeit 30 years too late. Note his motion if for “future” project. That was the idea 30 years ago. Horses are long gone, figure something for the present other than a tax increase.