• Staying Focused On Keeping Our Tax Rates Below The Regional Average.
  • We all know there is not a simple solution, and while our municipality has some very unique differences when it comes to assessing tax rates, we have a much larger picture that needs to be taken into account.
    • Residential growth will be the number one target that will impact community tax requirements. A statistic that resonates with me is how “For every dollar we make on taxes, we spend $1.32 on services”.
    • With this in mind, I have proven over these last years that I will always be a strong advocate for “controlled” growth. Making sure our infrastructure requirements that include water, sewer, roads, overpasses, schools, transportation, emergency services, snow removal etc. all must be in place before support for a project should happen in order to ensure runaway costs are kept within boundaries.
    • In comparison to other regional municipalities, Strathcona County is one of the least expensive tax rated counties to live in, while having the highest standard of service levels. However, when comparing counties, we have to remember to compare apples to apples as most counties can not even come close to the services Strathcona has.

For a detailed breakdown and conversation over this topic or any others, please feel free to reach out anytime and we can spend some time going through some specific details.

Spending Control

• Reduce and Lead by Example
  • Over the last number of years there has been over 14 upper-level management positions that have been removed along with each department has been instructed to keep hiring numbers under control through both part time positions along with cutting overtime spending by over half a million dollars.
• Review Prioritize Spending
  • Police – Fire – Health / Safety – Road – Infrastructure etc.

While long term projects from Bremner to the AG facility have both been on the books for decades and approved for development a while back, the goal here is to ensure contracts and agreements are held to account and to review every new zoning and development permit that comes across our desks to ensure these projects stay on track as to the expectations.

To make it clear. I am not either for or against projects like these being tabled. However, I still believe the decision to move forward on these types of larger projects need to be looked at, listened to and agreed upon by the constituents of our Strathcona County far more than they presently are.

Senior’s Programs

• I have been involved with a number of our seniors clubs and programs now, and the consensus seems to be that while our rural area has had some really appreciative support on both grants to help the community services along with ongoing programming, we should keep all options open for any growth opportunities that may present itself.
• Our region has quite a large number of seniors now and I can see how this demographic will only continue to grow, this is why I believe there will always be a need to show continuous focus and support to these needs on an ongoing basis.

Internet Speed & Reliability

• The number of residents working from home, along with the required access of high-speed internet within our daily lives will continue to grown year over year. More than ever, I completely understand just how imperative it is that we ensure our residents are able to access this “Utility” without many of the problems and outages we have seen over the last number of years.
• While we have seen many internet options and upgrades to various private companies such as Starlink, MCS Net, Xplornet, (Rural wireless options) doing business within the county, there has even been a new company A-Net (Alberta Broadband) has invested $75M into the community to where I believe they qualified for provincial grant funding as well.
• We need to continue making sure we are on track to offering solutions to all rural residents sooner than later as keeping our region connected will always remain a priority.

Trail System / Biking, Hiking & Walking

• Another topic of conversation I keep coming across is support for our trail system and growing our bike path program. Each new development must have a layout for walkways that include bike paths. With the growth of Ardrossan happening so quickly, this is one topic that I have been speaking directly to the developer on and making sure we can grow our path network as the hamlet grows out.
• It has been mentioned to look into how we can set up a trail from Ardrossan to Sherwood Park using Baseline Road. This past year, there as been a decision to upgrade the water line going to Ardrossan, and once this happens, we will be taking a closer look at what options we have to place a trail on top of the pipeline that would be installed directly next to Baseline Road.

Youth Services & Programs

• I have found that we seem to have an ongoing youth program in place to where we should continue to take any opportunity that comes up to help with supporting these individual programs where we can. As long as we are able to show ongoing support to both individuals and programs where we can, it will be a great learning opportunity to everyone that becomes involved.

Utilize New Tech

• This is definitely one program that the county has taken quite seriously as we have outgrown our old software to the point of requiring a full change over that has been completed as of last year. This program had a sizeable price tag attached to it but when researching other software choices, there really was only a few limited options that could integrate with the size of our system that will be able to grow with the county as required. In general, this should be able to streamline various programs from bill payment to reporting and keep us in line for the next few decades.