Lethbridge Mayor Chris Spearman on the 2019 provincial budget. (Lethbridge News Now)

By David Opinko

Mayor reacts to Alberta budget

Mayor Spearman outlines how provincial budget will impact Lethbridge

Oct 25, 2019 | 12:57 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – Premier Jason Kenney and the United Conservative Party revealed their first full budget Thursday afternoon, which Kenney says will create jobs, grow the economy, and protect vital services while balancing the budget by 2023.

In Lethbridge, the situation over the next four years might be a bit of a mixed bag.

Mayor Chris Spearman talked to media Friday morning about how the city will or likely will be impacted by various changes in funding and programming.

“While this budget shows restraint, we are a resilient community that can keep making progress in partnership with our provincial government. We look forward to working with the provincial government to learn more about what this budget means specifically for the City of Lethbridge in the coming days and weeks ahead.”

“We respect the mandate of the provincial government and will support the provincial government in its priorities of fiscal restraint, supporting and encouraging private investment, and job creation.”

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Infrastructure:

The people of Lethbridge will probably see the biggest changes in regards to infrastructure funding.

The Municipal Sustainability Initiative (MSI), which doles out money to local government for capital projects based on population, will be cut by $94-million in 2020-2021 and by an additional $142-million the year after.

“We’ve relied on that money in the past for significant capital projects, but we won’t be able to rely on that money in the near future, so projects will likely be delayed,” says Spearman.

The province will provide a total of $860-million in MSI funding. Calgary and Edmonton will get $455-million of that, meaning all other municipalities in Alberta will be fighting for just under half of the fund.

“We can see that there is austerity coming in the next two years in terms of MSI capital funding.”

Some of the more recent projects that have received MSI grants are the downtown Regional Park ‘N Ride Transit Terminal and the creation of Legacy Park on the north side.

The previous NDP administration had promised funding within the last year for two major projects in Lethbridge: $100-million to replace the Highway 3 bridge that goes over the coulees and over $11-million for a rehabilitative housing facility.

“I think on capital projects which are not absolutely essential, we can see those moved out three-to-four years, so the replacement for the bridge, I would say a commitment would be welcome and a commitment three-to-four years out is better than no commitment at all.”

There is no word yet on what will happen to the promised funding for the rehabilitative housing project.

When it comes to rehabilitation and addictions, Spearman said he is willing to sacrifice capital funding in order to get results on those.

Drugs & Crime:

The mayor of Lethbridge is singing a more positive tune when it comes to funding for rehabilitation, law enforcement, and prosecution.

Spearman says, right now, Lethbridge is lacking in resources to tackle these issues and the associated problems that come along with it.

Province-wide, $50-million is being allocated for Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams (ALERT) and $40-million for opioid responses.

Policing grants will continue as normal, while 50 new crown prosecutors will be hired.

“We want to make sure Lethbridge receives funding for prosecutors so that crimes are prosecuted on a timely basis. We also hope that that means a translation into funding for a needed SCAN (Safe Communities and Neighbourhoods) resources in our community so that we can shut down the drug houses and stop the supply of drugs flowing into our community.”

The Supervised Consumption Site is funded by Alberta Health and is mandated by Health Canada.

For the province’s part, Spearman told media that he was not aware of any changes in how Lethbridge’s SCS will be funded or managed going forward.

“We need support for the other pillars, specifically treatment and recovery. We want people to be accessing treatment and recovery, we want it to be as barrier-free as possible, we want to transition people from addiction into resources where they can recover and become contributing members of our society.”

Other:

Mayor Spearman says the City of Lethbridge will see a reduction in revenue due to less money going towards grants-in-lieu.

For provincially-owned facilities like schools, hospitals, and offices, they do not pay property taxes. Instead, the province gives grants to municipalities to make up the difference.

“Grants-in-lieu will mean the city will get less from the province. It’s a pattern that’s happened previously. Grants-in-lieu have been reduced in the past. It just means that municipal taxpayers will be absorbing more of the burden. Hopefully, that can be made up through growth.”

He expressed gratitude and relief to learn that grants for libraries and for family community and support services (FCSS) will stay the same.

Spearman hopes to dive deeper into the provincial budget in the near future to learn more about what it means for the City of Lethbridge.

Finance Minister Travis Toews will be in Lethbridge on Friday, November 1st to talk to the public about the budget. More details here.