The city won't be putting money into its public art reserve next year after city council voted to hold back the annual contribution.
During budget deliberations on Dec. 1, council voted to temporarily cut the annual transfer to the reserve in 2021. The motion passed in a 6-1 vote, with Coun. Natalie Joly against.
Each year, the city has the option of transferring up to $220,000 from its capital reserve to fund the purchase and maintenance of public art displays in St. Albert. This coming year, that contribution will be used instead to offset the proposed tax increase. Currently, there are no plans for additional public art purchases.
"This is the second biggest motion to reduce our taxes," said Mayor Cathy Heron. "This is the year to be making these fiscally responsible, difficult cuts, and sadly the arts is one that's been targeted ... it's just temporary, I want to recommit to it in the following year."
Without the transfer, $661,382 remains in the reserve, with $380,894 dedicated for new purchases and $280,488 for maintenance and restoration.
The motion was originally on council's consent agenda, but Coun. Natalie Joly pulled it off to vote against it. She referenced an article published by the National Gallery of Canada last month that cited information from the World Health Organization illustrating how important art is for physical and mental health.
"This is the second year in a row that we've told our artists that they have no value by passing this reduction. If the health of our community isn't a priority right now, I don't know what is," Joly said.
Council pulled this year's allocation from the reserve to offset a projected $7-million shortfall from the COVID-19 pandemic. Back in June, city council transferred $227,100 from the city's public art reserve to the 2020 general operating budget and cancelled the $30,000 Butterfly Project as well as the $80,000 Northridge gazebo project.
During budget deliberations, council voted unanimously to reduce the Mayor's Celebration of the Arts operating budget by $24,300 and postponed the next event to 2022.
Coun. Sheena Hughes said the motion wasn't aimed at cutting support for organizations encouraging art, but the purchase of specific art pieces. However, she said she did have concerns that cutting back the allocation for 2021 could have an impact on property taxes when it's reinstalled next year, she said.
"This is not about that, this is just about recognizing that we don't need to purchase three more large pieces of art in the next 12 months."
Coun. Ray Watkins also agreed the motion wasn't cutting funding for artists, but rather the purchase of public art.
"I'm not telling artists they have no value, I'm just not supporting the spending (on) public art this year in St. Albert. I realize it's important, but there are a lot of people who are really hurting and we're trying to get the taxes down," Watkins said.
The city has six public art projects on the books using $123,426 previously drawn from the reserve. This includes $89,900 for the Diversity and Inclusion art project, and $27,500 for the Red Willow Park West park project to include artists on the design team.
Earlier this year, council approved $10,000 for repair work to the Stephen Barr sculpture outside Servus Place. The sculpture has been removed and should be reinstalled in the next coming weeks, according to Paul Pearson, creative industries and cultural development manager.
The $2,100 Canada 150 mural mosaic project, which was part of the Canada-wide Mosaic Mural Project, is now complete. The city's fund for emerging artists has $10,700 allocated in total, with part of the budget amount made up of unspent funds carried forward from the previous year.
