Photo Courtesy City of Medicine Hat

By Jayson Taylor

City approves boost to Fair Entry Program relief credit; more relief possible for end of year

Jul 5, 2023 | 11:34 AM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – Medicine Hat residents who are eligible for the annual fair entry relief credit will receive more funding than originally planned during the last five months of the year.

City council had a nearly 45-minute-long debate on the Fair Entry Program at Tuesday’s meeting. A motion was put forward to increase the credit from $300 to $1,200 by allocating $500,000 to the program.

The expansion to the program was approved by council by an 8-1 vote, helping the nearly 400 recipients of the program.

Eligible residents received $50 in January, February, March and July and were to receive the same amount in August and September. They will now receive $200 each month from August to December.

The city bases eligibility for the program on a scale that compares a household’s pre-tax income to the size of the family.

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The Fair Entry Program also gives people breaks on user fees at recreation facilities, the Esplanade and Medicine Hat Transit.

With profit forecasts for the city’s power plant rising to $134 million, councillors voted to have further discussions at the end of the year to determine if the record profits should go more directly to residents or if profits should go to other expenses.

“I want to reiterate the need for a special dividend to be considered with extraordinary profits to all shareholders,” Coun. Darren Hirsch said on Tuesday.

Mayor Linnsie Clark also weighed in on the motion.

“I support this motion. I don’t think it’s fair to people who would qualify for this benefit to be held hostage while we kind of figure something else out that might apply to more people. I prefer looking to the end of the year because we have a deficit that we continue filling with our energy profits that may not be here forever,” she said.

Future discussions on the record profit forecasts will be determined at a later date.