St. Albert Minute: Issue 105

St. Albert Minute - Your weekly one-minute summary of St. Albert politics

📅 This Week In St. Albert: 📅

• Councillor Shelley Biermanski is proposing amendments to the City’s tax policy to lower the threshold for using new assessment growth to reduce property tax rates. Currently set at 5%, Biermanski seeks to return the limit to 3.5% to prioritize lower tax increases for residents. She is advocating for using growth revenue to fund infrastructure needs rather than expanding the operational budget. The proposal includes creating a debt offset reserve by allocating 5% of assessment growth to reduce dependence on tax-supported debt for major capital projects. Biermanski aims to have her motion debated before the City finalizes its official tax rate in May.
  
  
• St. Albert Public School Trustees rejected two motions aimed at increasing public access to board meetings, including changing the meeting time from 1:30 pm to 7:00 pm and keeping recordings available for at least a month. Trustee Stanley Haroun supported both measures, arguing they would help the public follow board decisions and build support for public education, while other trustees opposed them over concerns about staff privacy, administrative burden, and potential security risks. Board reports cited risks of AI deepfakes and the cost of secure servers, though experts noted such risks were minimal and YouTube already provides secure storage. Trustees also raised practical concerns, including late meeting hours affecting decision-making and potential staff reluctance to speak if recordings were public. Trustee Kim Armstrong called the debate a waste of time, frustrated that multiple meetings were spent on the issue without evidence it would boost engagement. 
  
  
• St. Albert is considering a $100 late fee for unpaid Downtown Business Improvement Area (BIA) taxes to boost its low compliance rate, which has hovered around 60% - well below other municipalities. The BIA tax, part of the proposed 2026 Downtown Business Association (DBA) budget of $66,400, helps fund downtown initiatives, but significant amounts have gone uncollected in recent years, with the City covering the shortfall. DBA Vice President Alena Brown says that downtown vacancies and the current billing method, which charges sub-leasers the same as full businesses, contribute to the low compliance rate, and suggested potential changes such as billing based on square footage. Council also passed bylaw amendments to improve fund distribution, splitting payments so the DBA receives half upon budget approval and the remainder after submitting its annual report and financial statement, addressing delays that previously limited spending. The City aims to raise compliance to 85% with the new measures.
  
  
• A recent report shows that nearly 40% of St. Albert ambulance calls in 2025 were outside the city, with the two City-provided units responding to 2,227 calls elsewhere, primarily in Edmonton. St. Albert has three ambulance units in total, including one managed by Emergency Health Services (EHS), which dispatches the closest available unit regardless of location. Fire Chief Dan Lemieux noted the City has no control over where ambulances are sent, though all St. Albert firefighters are trained as paramedics to provide care when ambulances are away. Councillor Ken MacKay expressed concern that the City could be left vulnerable when local ambulances are dispatched elsewhere, while Firefighters Union president Greg Harvey described the situation as a temporary fix for a system strained by limited resources. The report did not include data on how long ambulances remain outside the city, but the City has advocated for keeping units closer to St. Albert when possible. A review of the City’s contract with EHS, including payments for service, will be presented to Council in April. 
  
  
• St. Albert NDP MLA Marie Renaud’s private member’s bill, Bill 206: the Accessible Alberta Act, was defeated in the legislature on March 23rd after second reading. The bill aimed to establish provincewide accessibility standards and remove barriers for people with disabilities, with the goal of a barrier-free Alberta by 2040. Renaud expressed disappointment, noting that the disability community has long called for such legislation and criticizing the government for not fully understanding the bill’s content. Despite the defeat, Renaud said her advocacy will continue.

🚨 This Week’s Action Item: 🚨

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