St. Albert Minute: Issue 135

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

📅 This Week In St. Albert: 📅

• St. Albert's Arts Development Advisory Committee will meet on Wednesday at 6:00 pm. One of the items on the agenda is a recommendation that Council withdraw $129,000 from the Public Art Reserve Fund to pay for two public art projects in 2027. Administration is proposing $74,000 for a Community Services zine initiative, in which five artists would mentor five youth to create illustrated zines on local community stories and social issues. The mentees would be between the ages of 15 and 18. Another $55,000 would fund suspended artwork above the tot pool at Fountain Park Recreation Centre, which Administration claims would give young children learning to back float a positive visual focal point. The reserve holds an uncommitted balance of $531,374, which would fall to $402,374 if both projects are approved. If the funding is not supported, the money would stay in the reserve and the projects would not move ahead.
  
  
• The City of St. Albert's proposed 2027 budget includes a 4.5% municipal property tax increase, or about $35 more per $100,000 of assessed value than in 2026. Chief Administrative Officer Bill Fletcher presented the budget and the 2027-29 Financial Plan to Council at a special meeting on October 20th. The $244-million municipal operating budget carries a $162.4-million tax levy, and new costs include $1.5 million in wages for 17.5 full-time positions, $1.5 million in higher rates for ARROW utilities and the RCMP contract, and $2.2 million in interest on City debt. Outstanding debt would exceed $170 million in 2027, with $79.2 million of it tax-funded. The proposed $53.1-million municipal capital budget covers 41 projects, including Fire Hall No. 4, the twinning of Ray Gibbon Drive, a transit garage, and police renovations. Utility rates would rise 8.8%, or about $15.39 a month on a typical household bill. Fletcher argued the City delivers services efficiently, citing operating costs of $3,510 per resident and an average tax increase of 2.24% over the past 10 years, among the lowest in the region. Council will deliberate on the budget through November, with final approval expected before the end of the year, and the City is taking public input on the proposal until November 5th.
  
  
• Brian Watters, construction manager for Akash Homes, one of the larger home construction companies in the Edmonton region, estimates Canada's new tariffs on US goods could add $5,000 to $7,000 to the cost of an average home. The tariffs, on about $27.6 billion of US imports, took effect on September 8th and cover plywood, nails, doors, and other building materials. The Canadian Home Builders' Association estimates 155 of the 629 import categories subject to the tariffs relate to residential construction and renovation, and 24 of those, including drywall, carpet, heat pumps, wiring, and appliances, are very difficult to replace in the short term. Watters said about half of the joists and beams his crews use, and most of their drywall and carpet, come from the US, and that bigger builders have now used up their pre-tariff stockpiles. He doubts the market will accept the higher prices and warned that many builders may have to absorb them, which could mean job losses. Audie Benson, who has built homes across Alberta since 1978, said his crew is out of work after finishing its last house of the year, which he blamed partly on tariffs pushing the cost of a new home above that of an existing one. The association is lobbying the federal government for a pilot program to test alternatives to American construction products.
  
  
• The St. Albert RCMP Crime Reduction Unit arrested 12 adults and six youths and executed 11 outstanding warrants during a retail crime blitz from August 18th to September 5th. The operation focused on shoplifting prevention and was run in partnership with local businesses and community partners. Arrests included people leaving local box stores and grocery stores with carts or bags of unpaid merchandise worth from $91 to $1,840, most of them charged with theft under $5,000. Several of those arrested were wanted on outstanding warrants, and some were remanded into custody. Those charged included residents of St. Albert, Edmonton, and Parkland County. The unit also led an investigation into drug trafficking in the Edmonton area from June 18th to July 23rd, which ended with a search warrant at an Edmonton home and two Edmonton residents jointly charged with possession for the purpose of trafficking, possession of prohibited weapons, and possession of proceeds of crime.
  
  
• Edmonton-based investment advisor Jason McCarthy and Drew Schamehorn, former owner of the St. Albert Saints, presented City Council with a plan on October 13th to bring Alberta Junior Hockey League junior A hockey back to St. Albert. The pair said the league had encouraged them to pursue an expansion franchise, and they have letters of support from the St. Albert and District Chamber of Commerce and several local businesses. Citing studies from Lloydminster and Olds, they claimed teams generate economic benefits of 1.6 to 1.65 times their annual operating costs, which they put at $1 million to $1.5 million, and left Council copies of their business plan. McCarthy acknowledged that ice time is the main hurdle, telling Council that demand for ice in St. Albert already exceeds supply. The Saints left for Spruce Grove in 2004 when the City could not build a new arena, and former mayor Nolan Crouse noted that no new ice surfaces have been added since the St. Albert Steel, the city's last junior A team, moved to Whitecourt in 2012. The pair has approached schools and the St. Albert Minor Hockey Association about an ice-use plan and intends to return to Council with a formal request in the coming weeks.

🚨 This Week’s Action Item: 🚨

Junior A hockey could be coming back to St. Albert, with a group proposing a new AJHL expansion franchise and preparing to bring a formal request to City Council.

What do you think - would you like to see junior A hockey return to St. Albert?

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