Red Deer Minute: Tax Hikes, More Spending, and Big Events Planned

Red Deer Minute - Your weekly one-minute summary of Red Deer politics

This Week In Red Deer:

• City Council is back to work and has two meetings scheduled for this week.
  
  
• On Tuesday, there will be a meeting of the Red Deer & District Family & Community Support Services Board at 5:00 pm. At this meeting, the Board will receive several reports, including the FCSS Program Specialist’s Report, and a 2022 REconnect Review. City Administration will also direct the Red Deer & District FCSS Board to appoint new members to serve on the REconnect Review Committee.
  
  
• On Wednesday, there will be a meeting of the Housing Asset Development Sub-Committee but no time or agenda is available yet.

Last Week In Red Deer:

• A company trying to build a gondola across Edmonton’s river valley announced a new project for the City of Red Deer. Prairie Sky Gondola is studying the feasibility of a 350 meter “urban ropeway” that would connect Bower Ponds to a new development area called Capstone at a price tag of approximately $25 million. Only time will tell if the City and the company will ultimately come to a deal, but the process to ink a memorandum of understanding for exploration of the technical and commercial details is currently underway.
  
  
• Remember when it was election year and Council managed to freeze taxes? Yeah, well those times are long gone. Those crunching the City’s numbers said another two years of tax freeze was doable, but now that the election's finished, Council have opted for two years of large tax increases instead. The first of these tax increases is 4.7% in 2023, followed by a 4.3% increase in 2024. With households struggling financially, you would think that Council would be a little more frugal when reaching into the back pockets of ratepayers during such a difficult time. 
  
  
• Despite the cancellation of several large events a couple of weeks ago, Red Deerians will still have plenty to be optimistic about event-wise in the years ahead, as there are more high-profile events on the horizon. The Red Deer International Powwow, the Canadian International Air Race Championship, and the Canadian Men’s Senior Golf Championship are all scheduled to take place in the city over the next two years. At last Monday’s City Council meeting, Council approved $95,000 in sponsorship funding to be distributed for these events through the Event Hosting & Outgoing Event Sponsorship Program.

-----

Donate:

Common Sense Red Deer doesn't accept any government funding and never will. We think you should be free to choose, for yourself, which organizations to support. If you're in a position to contribute financially, you can make a donation here.

-----

Share:

If you're not in a position to donate, we understand, but if you appreciate our work, you can help by spreading our message. Please email this post to your friends, share it on Facebook or Twitter, and help make sure every Red Deerian knows what's really going on at City Hall.