“Thank you” for your invitation to deliver my second annual State of the City address to your members. Over the past twelve months, I have been impressed by the activity and growth of your Chamber. Today, I submit that the accomplishments of your City Council, administration, and staff and Aquatera Utilities have been equally impressive. I am proud of all our successes in 2003.
To provide a touchstone to evaluate our successes and to provide guidance as we plan into the future, your Council has crafted this vision for your city.
Our quality of life is envied throughout Western Canada - a magnet to continued growth and prosperity. Grande Prairie is the regional service centre and hub for North Western Alberta and the North - for trade, transportation, health, emergency services, education, recreation, entertainment, culture, social services, and government services. Our Council is proactive. Together, we are creating a model leading northern city - colourful, clean, and beautiful in all seasons, and competitive within our Region, Province, and Nation. Community initiative and mature partnerships among preventive and emergency services are earning us our reputation as a safe city. CyberCity is positioning Grande Prairie firmly on the information highway.
This vision is supported by our strategic plan with these seven focus areas. We will continue to be the Leading Northwestern Centre. We must meet the needs of a growing community. We are an internationally connected community. Grande Prairie is a safe community. We are a caring and active community. We have pride in being a beautiful Northern City. Finally, we will be a sustainable community.
Our day to day decision making and long term planning are driven by Council’s desire to fulfil our vision using this public strategic plan. Read the full details of our focus areas on our website cityofgp.com.
So how was 2003?
In January Mother Nature visited and left us with her version of a very extra large, white, and cold double-double. In just 10 short days she dropped down double the normal January 31 day snowfall and double what she gave the Edmonton area. 79 people worked tirelessly around the clock using 43 pieces of equipment. They moved 127,000 cubic metres or 15,767 dump trucks loads of snow. This mammoth effort cleared all residential streets in just 17 days. We had cleared 85% of our residential streets before St. Albert started to clear their residential streets. Our snow removal budget was over by $1 Million.
With the snow just a memory, we got down to business and fixed potholes like we said we would. In 2003, $8.4 Million was spent on our roads. 2004 will see over $10 Million spent on road improvements. This two year total of nearly $20 Million is a 285 per cent increase over the 2001 and 2002 years. This emphasis on roads and sidewalks will continue as long as necessary.
Sometime in 2003, we welcomed our 40,226th resident. In the past 14 years, our population has grown by 54 per cent. 75 per cent of our people are under 45 years of age. We have more little people 4 and under than we have experienced people over 65.
Just before the walls of the old City Hall came tumbling down, we loaded up and moved into our newly renovated $5 Million City Hall. 75 happy people are now working in a safe, modern workplace that we are proud to show off to the public and visitors. Grande Prairie is a progressive and forward thinking community and our new City Hall reflects this image.
On May 1st, Aquatera Utilities Inc. set a new standard for regional cooperation as Alberta’s first water, wastewater, and solid waste treatment for profit corporation owned by more than one municipality, the County of Grande Prairie No.1, the Town of Sexsmith, and your City. Aquatera’s top regional priority is to push quality City water to Sexsmith and Clairmont. After that, the whole region can benefit from Aquatera’s range of environmentally sensitive top quality products and services.
Our support of the Grande Prairie Community Social Housing Plan continues to be a catalyst for new homes and support programs for those in need of adequate affordable housing. A whooping $9.7 Million in private sector donations, government grants, and gifts in kind were received or promised for Grande Prairie housing projects in 2003. The three Rotary Clubs and the Rotaract announced a $500,000 donation for the expanded Wapiti Dorm Emergency Shelter project. The Province and Federal Government announced a $3.25 Million grant for the 65 unit Margaret Edgson Emerald Place Apartments for inclusive living for people with disabilities and those with modest incomes. 21 of the Province’s social housing units valued at $2.1 Million were transferred to your City to be sold for funds to help double the social housing available for people with modest incomes, usually single parents with young children. The 58 bed Willow Place Transition House opened with hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations from the local business community, $950,000 from the Province and Federal Government combined, and donated land and services from your City. The 19 bed Caring Shelter for Our Elders opened to provide a safe culturally sensitive haven for aboriginal elders suffering from abuse and economic need. Local donations, contributions from the Métis Nation of Alberta, and land and services from your City made this one of a kind project a reality. Council created our own housing commission and housing reserve fund to continue our leadership in building new affordable housing units on city land. The province and federal governments approved a new three year housing plan and over $1 Million in confirmed new funding.
After an unfortunate delay caused by local and provincial opposition, we reduced the franchise fee the City collects from energy utility companies by 19 per cent which will save the average homeowner $37.00 annually.
The $10 Million twin arenas opened to much applause and were promptly renamed the Coca Cola Centre. Our 4 indoor ice surfaces are complemented by 26 outdoor neighbourhood rinks. The Johnny Macdonald Arena has been transformed into our second indoor soccer pitch.
Construction began on the over $30 Million Canadian Gas and Electric Canfor Co-gen plant. Using a renewable energy source, waste wood, this green powered generating plant will be the first source of locally produced electricity and steam for a future district heating project. This is another example of how your City promotes innovative environmentally friendly improvements to our community.
To help our law enforcement increase manpower efficiencies we installed $250,000 in satellite linked computers in our police vehicles. These computers increase the time officers spend on the road fighting crime and speed the flow of needed information.
With Council’s support, the concept of the Safe City Nights program was created. Inspector Hodgkins, Protective Services Director Bill Walker, Bylaw Enforcement Services Program Manager Garry Roth, and others worked with owners and managers of the lounge, bar, and entertainment industry to create a late night enforcement and crime prevention program that did reduce inappropriate late night behaviours. This program has a proactive educational component that takes the message of responsible partying to the college and high school students. The Safe City Nights Program will be repeated this year.
Council was proactive in other enforcement areas. A new Noise, Nuisances, and Public Disturbances Bylaw gives police and bylaw officers more tools to combat street fights, bullying, improperly idling vehicles, and after hours noises in residential neighbourhoods.
Grande Prairie remains one of the few cities in Canada that allows horse and riders access to our city streets – all they have to do is obtain a free permit.
Upgrades to our unique website cityofgp.com continued with the addition of two e-government features. You can pay parking tickets on line and access lot and utility line details from the comfort of your home or office. Eventually you will be able to access 18 different interactive e-government features on our Cyber City website. 72 per cent of the 1.1 Million hits/month on this website originate from places outside of Canada.
The Edmonton City Centre Airport is a vital air transportation link to Grande Prairie and all of Northern Alberta. Council has supported regional and Edmonton based efforts to expand services available to Northern Alberta through this important airport.
What is good for the region is good for Grande Prairie. We continued to meet our municipal neighbours and regional partners like the Town of Beaverlodge, the Village of Hythe, your chamber board of directors, the GPRC Board of Directors, and two firsts. We hosted the first ever visit to northern Alberta of Edmonton City Council and Fort St. John City Council hosted your Council in that great Peace County City.
Grande Prairie revived the North Alberta Reeves, Mayors, and CAO’s group by organizing the first meeting in over four years in Grimshaw. Nearly 70 people attended to hear about the Northern British Columbia Fair Share Revenue Deal between that provincial government and all local municipalities.
I continued to participate in the Alberta Mid Sized City’s Mayor’s group who met with MLA’s to discuss the need for a new revenue sharing arrangement with the Province for all municipalities
Another example of our leadership in the area of regional cooperation was the regional village of 13 partners at the 2003 Meet the North Conference in Edmonton. This unique concept was the only one of its kind in this trade fair with cooperatively themed and linked booths from the GPRTA, Peace County Health, the Grande Prairie Regional College, PREDA, the Downtown Association, the Grande Prairie Regional Airport, the Towns of Peace River, Sexsmith, Valleyview, & Grande Cache, the County of Grande Prairie, and your City and Chamber.
We kept Grande Prairie and region in the public spotlight with positive stories about our growth and regional highlights in local and provincial TV, radio, and print media. No less than 12 publications, including one European tourism magazine, carried stories on our City. These included Energy Central, Sylvester Publication’s Grande Prairie Report, GP Tourism, Alberta Venture (gateway to the north), The Edge-News for Western Canada’s Forest Products Industry, Legacy Magazine (Alberta’s Cultural Heritage), Spinal Columns, Northwest Business, Business Edge, German Tours Magazine, and Appega.
We continued to be the only Canadian City that provided free public transportation for people receiving the AISH disability pension plus CNIB members.
We keep listening to our citizens and the business community. The results saw a fine tuning of the 2002 Land Use Bylaw and the passage of a new business bylaw without implementing a business license fee. We continued to develop our economic development strategy and downtown enhancement plans through our partnership with your Chamber and the Downtown Association in the Downtown Enhancement Working Group.
For the first time in history, we had a mid term shuffle of Council responsibilities and standing committee chairs. We improved public access to the public hearing process by making our decisions immediately after the public submissions. These changes confirm our dedication to making government more user friendly.
Another first was our two day trip to meet with 7 Cabinet Ministers organized with the help of our two very supportive MLA’s Gordon Graydon and Mel Knight. We want our provincial government to be very aware of your City’s needs and concerns.
The City contribution to the Communities in Bloom program has been tripled and is receiving growing support from the community each year. The City has hired a full time arbourist and purchased more grass care equipment. A new storage shed is being built in the north east part of the City to reduce travel time and increase time the equipment is in use mowing grass. A “MAD VAC” has been purchased and is vacuuming our sidewalks.
2003 saw the unfortunate passing of Alderman Derek Taylor, a long time supporter of school kids and a real community leader. We remember his many contributions to our City. He will be missed.
Every member of Council continues to provide exemplary service to our community. Alderman Heath provides leadership as Chair of the Airport Commission, is looking to expand our tourism links with the North, and serves the needs of Seniors.
Alderman Rice puts in yeoman’s hours as our City representative on the Board of the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association and many other boards and committees.
Alderman Eckhardt continues to keep our profile high on the national stage and gets us federal green fund grants as our member on several committees of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities.
Deputy Mayor Mazer is all over the City as my capable stand in and is showing real leadership in the development of the new Library.
Alderman Blackmore has grabbed the challenge of ramping up our Communities in Bloom campaign and our Municipal Government Day celebrations.
Alderman Croken has become our jovial regional ambassador attending many Peace County parades and other events as far away as High Level and is helping to expand our seniors housing.
Alderman Given has tackled some delicate protective services issues head on and is leading our new Housing Commission.
I am proud of every member of your Council and am amazed at the hours they dedicate to serving this great City.
As north western Alberta’s only full time mayor, I feel honoured to serve the people of Grande Prairie. In 2003, I represented your City at nearly 400 community events and made 27 trips out of the area to meet with the Mid Sized City’s Mayor’s caucus, cabinet ministers and MLA’s, northern Alberta Mayor’s caucus, northern Mayors, Reeves, and CAO’s, AUMA, & FCM; and participated in meetings relative to the Royal Bank Cup, Edmonton airports, provincial policing, the AUMA presidents summit, and greyhound bus service. I attended the Gary McPherson awards, housing forum, northern care conference, and opportunities seminar; and manned booths at the GPRC career fair and GPRTA tourism conference.
We are supported by a top notch administration led by City Manager Dave Gourlay. About 350 permanent and 150 temporary staff deliver excellent service to our citizens. They make us look good through the quality of their workmanship and their commitment to the people of Grande Prairie. Thanks to every person who works for the City or Aquatera Utilities. 2003 was a great year because of these people.
I do not have to remind you that 2002 was a record year for growth. 2003 was even busier. It was another banner year.
We issued 1,218 building permits, an increase of 8.6 per cent from 2002 and up 70 per cent from 2000. Just four years ago in 2000, the 500th building permit was issued on September 6th. In 2003, this 500th permit was issued 80 days earlier on June 18th.
Thirty one servicing agreements with developers were finalized. This is nearly double the ten year average of 17. 39 subdivisions were approved.
Commercial construction increased by a whopping 68 per cent to $46.6 Million from $27.3 Million in 2002. Single family dwelling residential units increased to 513 from 510 and total residential was down from 770 to 729 units. From 2000 to 2003, 2,396 housing units were built.
2003 saw the start of 11 projects worth more than $1 Million each.
The huge increase in commercial projects was tempered by a $17.4 Million decrease in government projects.
The final result was a 2003 total building construction value of $110,489,029.00 a mere 6 per cent short of tying our 2002 record.
This 2003 near record construction value is still an amazing 68 percent higher that the 10 year average (1993 - 2002) of $72 Million.
Grande Prairie is only the second city in Alberta to adopt a multi year budget cycle. Originally passed in December, 2002 after a 5 day public council review process, the fine tuning of the second year took only three hours in November. There were 6 changes to the Capital budget and five changes to the Operating budget. There was a substantial saving in staff and Council time from earlier years when a new budget was prepared and presented every year from scratch.
We continue to see the benefits of growth. From 2002 to 2003, our tax revenues increased by $2.5 Million.
This increase in revenue is balanced by our obligation to meet the needs of a growing city. In 2003, $55,157,647 was spent on operations and $25.2 Million on capital projects. In 2004, your City will spend $27,395,000.00 on capital projects and $56,082,453.00 on operations.
The mill rate will increase 4.22 per cent. The mill rate increase has declined in each of the last three budget years. (6.2, 5.7, 5.3) Combined with the reduction in the utility franchise fee, the effective increase is 1.33 per cent or $17 per average home. This is much less than the rate of inflation. As a result, the main source of tax revenue increases will be from growth not mill rate increases.
At the end of 2003, our debt was $25.6 Million with an interest payment of $1.488 Million. This year, tax supported debt is 80 per cent of our total debt and will rise to $30.99 Million. Debt paid by local road improvement levies and the province RCMP rents is 20 per cent or $8.11 Million. The 2004 total debt is $39.1 Million with an interest payment of $1.674 Million.
Most of the tax supported 2004 borrowings relate to two projects. At over 7 Million, the new combined RCMP and Bylaw Enforcement Building is a necessary expenditure in our fight against crime. The Province will be paying for twenty per cent of this debt through their rental of part of the building. The current police building does not meet federal standards and we have received a written warning from the Federal Government that if we do not build a new station up to their standards soon, the RCMP will stop serving Grande Prairie. Now is the time to check this item off our to-do list.
The $2.2 Million expansion to the Canada Games Arena is driven by the need to increase its revenues. Similar facilities across Canada make more money from rentals, food, and merchandise sales. The lack of intermission space for patrons and vendors and seating are the causes. The Crystal Centre Business Advisory Committee, led by Ken Truhn, and Crystal Centre staff made an excellent business case for this investment. The new revenues from this expansion will pay for the financing costs.
How can we afford to increase our debt when debt reduction was our overriding philosophy for nearly two decades?
Debt is a tool that municipalities use to build projects that have a long term use. Future users should share paying for the costs of construction. To remain competitive with our sister cities, we have to provide the services demanded by today’s families and businesses. Modern safe recreational facilities and smooth roads are two examples.
Once the City decides that a project is a true need and not just a want, we must be able to afford the payments and ongoing operational costs.
So how is it that we can pay for these large projects we are adding to our community inventory? First, our rapid growth has given us the over 40,000 population, businesses, and tax base that were unimaginable 20 years ago. This growth will continue for the foreseeable future. BMO Financial Group has predicted that Grande Prairie will remain the third fastest growing city out of the 110 mid-sized cities across Canada.
The carrying cost of City debt is less than half what it was when our 20,000 population was paying for a $64 Million debt in the early 80’s. For every dollar of old debt we pay off, we can borrow two dollars and not increase our annual debt payments. In the three years, 2002, 2003, & 2004, we will have paid off $9.91 Million in old high interest debt while adding $20.747 Million in City tax supported debt. Remember that fully 80 percent or $17 Million of this new debt is to finance three projects that add real long term value: the Twin Arenas, the RCMP/Bylaw Enforcement Services Building, and the Canada Games Arena Expansion.
To prevent the debt crisis of 20 years ago, the Province monitors City debt more closely and has more indicators of when rising debt loads will cause problems. Our debt is not anywhere near a problem according to provincial guidelines. Our debt ratios are not out of line when compared to our sister cities. Our Debt Limit is $74 Million.
In addition to increased tax revenue from growth, there have been major positive changes in our cash flow for 2004.
The new AUMA electrical aggregation will save us $500,000 annually.
Council has negotiated new revenues from the County and the Town of Sexsmith. Two years ago the County agreed to increase their payments for firefighting services and add a payment for County use of the swimming pool. Earlier, they also agreed to share in additional taxes collected when a large plant expanded. As a result, the County now sends us $835,000 annually, an increase of $615,000 over three years ago.
We will receive a share of new taxes collected in the County and Sexsmith from growth resulting from Aquatera services moving out to these partners, plus we will share in the profits from regional Aquatera user fees.
Our economy is more diverse and larger than 20 years ago. We can weather downturns in specific sectors. Oil patch advances like the Cutbank Ridge gas play, and our dynamic retail sector are only two of the many reasons why our economy will keep us in the national spotlight.
Grande Prairie is solidly fixed as the Peace Country’s largest regional centre. Some are so bold as to declare we are the true “Gateway to the North”. Grande Prairie will add to and benefit from sustained regional growth.
I am proud to say that I serve the City of Grande Prairie and I am equally proud of the accomplishments of the Council you chose 27 months ago.
Your Council has had a significant role in creating a positive environment in which we can all work together to build a better City. There are many challenges ahead. We must continue to deal with the positives and negatives of growth. There must be a focus on reviving our aging infrastructure. We must work with all Alberta Municipalities to achieve a new revenue sharing arrangement with the Provincial and Federal Governments.
Regardless of what may come in 2004, all of Council is eagerly looking forward to see what this year brings. We hope you are as eager.
Thank you for listening to me today.