As we entered the City of St. Albert annual budget cycle, we once again heard grim warnings from council and administration of potential tax increases or service cuts.
Saving opportunities have already been identified that could be incorporated in the city’s budget. Specifically, these are the opportunities summarized in the Ernst & Young Operations and Fiscal Review Report issued in May 2021. The report was commissioned by the City of St. Albert and a copy is available on the city website.
The report identifies 40 saving opportunities with a net benefit of $23 million over a five-year period. According to the report, most of these opportunities have an implementation period of less than 18 months, which means they could be achieved within the 2022 budget cycle. However, it appears that very little, if any, of these savings are reflected in the 2022 budget and future years.
I am disappointed the city has not pushed forward in an effort to aggressively implement these savings. This is particularly disenchanting when they themselves regularly express concern over their ability to fund city services. Instead, they fall back to the status quo of either raising taxes or reducing services.
The implementation of the E&Y saving opportunities needs to be a priority for city council. Council members should step outside their comfort zone and incorporate some of the E&Y business cases into the 2022 budget. If these measures are in the budget they will get done, otherwise they will continue to be deferred and perhaps lost.
The 2022 budget is still under review, so it is not too late for city council to prioritize the E&Y recommendations and adjust the budget accordingly. I can think of 23 million reasons for them to do so.
Don Schneider, St. Albert
