Mayor Linnsie Clark says the next budget process should be set up differently. Eli J. Ridder/CHAT News

By Eli J. Ridder

CITY HALL

Medicine Hat mayor says she relates to councillor criticized by staff

Dec 17, 2024 | 3:54 PM

Mayor Linnsie Clark said Tuesday she can relate to Coun. Andy McGrogan’s experience of being criticized by a senior City of Medicine Hat employee and was supportive of his 11th-hour effort to cut the tax increase included in the next two-year budget.

“He clearly was feeling a bit frustrated and he told council and the public about his frustration and put a motion forward to try and resolve the situation in a manner that he would be satisfied with,” Clark told CHAT News.

“It didn’t end up passing but those are the types of things that this council needs to do.”

McGrogan, while proposing that council direct staff to find a way to cut 1.7 per cent from the 2025 and 2026 property tax rate increases, said he was told by a staff member that he was unqualified to determine the mindset of residents.

“Recently, I received an email from a senior administrator accusing me of not being qualified to assert that taxpayers are distressed,” McGrogan said.

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“I disagree with this assessment. During the last municipal election, I received very strong support and a very clear mandate from our electorate.”

Coun. Andy McGrogan proposed cutting 1.7 per cent from the property tax rate increases for 2025 and 2026. Eli J. Ridder/CHAT News

A spokesperson for the City of Medicine Hat said in a statement Tuesday afternoon that “the city is unable to comment on private emails between individuals.” McGrogan did not reveal the sender.

“Being disrespected is never fun, I feel like I can relate,” Clark said Tuesday.

Political consultant Jim Groom said for a staff member to tell a councillor they don’t know their community is “diametrically opposed to what the situation should be.”

“It’s not for a bureaucrat or an administrator to decide that they know better and that they are criticizing council for not being qualified to to actually present the views of the citizens, which is what we elect them to do,” Groom told CHAT News on Tuesday.

“It seems like the mayor’s earlier problems maybe are spreading a little bit at this point, and that doesn’t make for a conducive relationship whatsoever between councillors and the administration of the city.”

Andy McGrogan, Shila Sharps and Linnsie Clark speak during a council break Monday evening. Eli J. Ridder/CHAT News

The conflict between Clark and city hall administration has defined the past 17 months at council, sparked by a debate between the mayor and chief administrator Ann Mitchell over the roles and power of council and staff at a meeting in August 2023.

The mayor told anchor Dan Reynish she has noticed this council is changing its approach amid its fourth and final year in office.

“I’m seeing council be more assertive about putting their own motions forward, whereas I think at the beginning of the term there was less familiarity,” she said.

“Now I’m looking forward to seeing what happens in 2025.”

Medicine Hat’s property taxes will increase 5.6 per cent in both 2025 and 2026 after city council on Monday passed a two-year budget that maintains services amid high inflation and expected drops in the power reserves.

Homeowners can expect a municipal increase of approximately $10 per month for both years, based on the 2024 average assessed value of residential properties, or a $315,000 single-family home, according to city figures.

Residential utility customers will also see a one per cent increase in utility rates, $768 per year lower than the average current 2024 rates of other Alberta cities. Commercial rates will go up five per cent and industrial customers increase by four per cent.

Mayor Linnsie Clark joined councillors McGrogan and Shila Sharps in voting against the budget but were unable to stop approval as the other six cast ballots in favour.

The city’s elected officials passed an amended version of the budget that did not include a $9.5-million food waste compost facility. They also decided not to include a $500,000 funding request from HALO Air Ambulance.

Coun. Alison Van Dyke said she supported the budget because it avoided diminishing city services.

“We all want the shiny and new sometimes but you have to really focus on maintaining what you have, just like as any homeowner or vehicle owner knows you have to maintain your property,” Van Dyke told reporters following Monday’s council meeting.

“For me it was more about maintaining those services and facilities that we currently have in the city.”

— with files from Dan Reynish