Current Issues - Our Government Your Membership is Your VOICE On October 18th, 2010 St. Albert residents elected a new City Council. The new Council has four new members and includes the following: Mayor Nolan Crouse Councillor Len Bracko Councillor Wes Brodhead Councillor Cathy Heron Councillor Roger Lemieux Councillor Cam MacKay Councillor Malcolm Parker The St. Albert Taxpayers Association is looking forward to working with the new City Council, in its role of monitoring Council business and decisions, providing feedback to Council and informing the public on issues that we believe are important to St. Albert residents and taxpayers. The St. Albert Taxpayers Association believes it is important that the public is informed how and where their hard earned tax dollars are being spent. Furthermore SATA will be seeking increased accountability from our elected representatives. To achieve these objectives SATA will be grading the performance of individual Council members by implementing a Council Report Card. SATA will follow Council debates and decisions, and track the positions taken by all Council members vis a vis their election platform positions as outlined during the campaign. SATA will be referring to the candidates' election brochures, statements made during the SATA and Chamber of Commerce candidates' forums, answers to questionnaires and media interviews. Look for this new feature in the months ahead! In the meantime, if you would like to refer to Candidate Survey answers from the four new Council members elected during the 2010 civic election click on the links below. Wes Brodhead Cathy Heron Cam MacKay Malcolm Parker Nolan Crouse and Roger Lemieux declined our invitation to take part in the pre-election Candidate Survey, and Len Bracko did not respond to SATA's invitation. 2011 City Budget In December 2010, following extensive deliberations Council approved the City's 2011 capital and operating budgets, and user fees. St. Albert Taxpayers Association monitored the budget process and compiled the voting records of council members, providing some insight into the effort expended by City Council in examining Administration's 2011 budget request, and in some measure, providing insight into Council's priorities. In compiling the voting records SATA considered 136 proposed amendments to the budget. In general, attention was focused primarily on those budget motions that had a direct bearing on the 2011 Budget. Only 78 of the tabled motions were carried. The number of motions tabled by each Council member, and the impact of carried motions on the 2011 Budget are summarized in the table below.   To help readers interpret the tabulated data we offer the following examples: i.   As part of the Municipal Capital budget debate Mayor Crouse tabled 19 motions. A total of 13 of those motions were adopted by Council, and the net cost impact of the motions was a $930,000 reduction in the 2011 capital spending program. ii.  Similarly, during Operating budget deliberations, 19 of Councillor MacKay's motions were carried by Council, resulting in a net reduction in the Operating Budget of $171,800. It should be pointed out that yearly spending on municipal and utility capital projects, and any variances in capital spending do not directly impact St. Albert's annual property tax levies. The City's capital spending requirements are in part met from Reserves, which in turn are funded from the Operating Budget. Each year Administration earmarks roughly 10% of operating budget funding for transfer to Reserves. Any reductions or increases in municipal and/or utility capital project costs, or decreases in debt repayment amounts, are returned or applied to the appropriate Reserves fund. Reductions in the Operating Budget translate directly into lower property tax increases. Overall, the total reduction in the Operating Budget of $198,000 represents an operating budget reduction of less than 0.2%. For a detailed look at the 2011 Budget motions and vote outcomes click on the following links: 2011 Capital Budget Motions 2011 Utility Capital Budget Motions 2011 Operating Budget Motions 2011 User Fee Motions 2011 Budget Council Report Card