Medicine Hat council starts budget deliberations with focus on capital projects

Other projects include $468,000 in capital funding for cyber security upgrades, $1.5 million for landfill upgrades and over $2.5 million for water main replacement and upgrades, among other capital and operating budget expenses.

The mix of capital and operating cash pays for large projects and programs the city aims to include in its 2025-2026 budget.

As part of the initiatives that were presented Tuesday, staff also suggested operating budgets of $6.9 million in 2025 and $3.3 million in 2026.

There would be a 2.03 per cent incremental property tax revenue increases per year in 2025 and 2026 to pay for the city’s “new growth opportunities”, according to a staff report.

WATCH: ‘New Growth Deliberations’ part one

Decisions that council makes on these items are significant for Medicine Hat’s future, corporate services manager director Dennis Egert said.

“The decisions made as a result of the next two deliberation sessions will have a significant impact on how the city grows and is shaped over the upcoming years,” Egert told council.

Council during its July 15 regular meeting will decide whether to remove, add or replace items on the list that will form staff’s direction for the 2025-2026 budget.

Council will give final approval to a budget in December.

The city has a multi-step process to determine what makes the cut when it comes to budget initiatives, accounting supervisor and council’s budget guide Aaron Hoimyr said Tuesday.

It starts at the department level before being reviewed to make sure the case aligns with the the city’s goals. Cases are then ranked by a ranking committee to prioritize the best use of taxpayer money.

Moving on, cases are adjusted to meet council’s strategic priorities by the executive leadership before coming before council.

Currently, council us working on adjusting the items for community balance before final approval.

There were 82 business cases created by staff. Of those, 55 made the cut to be included in the proposed budget while 27 cases were deferred.

Two major items were not recommended in the budget.

There was $500,000 set aside in 2025 and $501,000 set aside in 2026 in the case for HALO Air Ambulance funding, a continuation of the $1,000,000 Halo received in the last budget.

Hoimyr said staff did not recommend the case because the previous funding was considered a temporary measure to be reconsidered in future years.

There was also concern around the jurisdictional responsibility for the air ambulance service that operates out of Medicine Hat Regional Airport, Hoimyr explained.

Aaron Hoimyr, accounting supervisor for the City of Medicine Hat, presented capital project recommendations on Tuesday. Eli J. Ridder/CHAT News

HALO receives 29 per cent of its funding from the Alberta government, far less than the about 50 per cent from the province that STARS air ambulance now receives.

“In addition, administration feels that it would be best for Halo to make its own request for funding as opposed to rolling forward the previously approved amount,” Hoimyr told council.

Staff also recommended council drop the low income utility discount program that is included among its fair entry initiatives.

“The city recognizes that there is a continued need for support of the city’s most vulnerable and the program will continue to provide subsidies for admission to city-owned facilities, transit and some educational services,” Hoimyr said.

“The fair entry credit was a temporary measure in a trying time of uncertain economic conditions during high inflation with regard to food, energy and housing.”

Other federal and provincial relief programs have ceased as well, Hoimyr added.

Council will meet for part two of the New Growth Opportunities budget deliberations on July 9.

by Eli J. Ridder

Medicine Hat council starts budget deliberations with focus on capital projects

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