Town council was recently presented with a report breaking down statistics on local businesses and residents.
"There's some really good demographics ó some information so that when council's making future decisions, they have some background to support their decision," said administrator Dave Dubauskas during council's Jan. 18 meeting, opening the floor to Jon Allan, economic development officer, who went through the information outlined in the Central Alberta Economic Partnership's (CAEP) economic indicators report for the Town of Sundre.
Every year, CAEP distributes a report featuring useful graphics on economic statistics for each of its member municipalities, as well as a regional and Central Alberta oriented report, said Allan.
"It's a good way to put this information out into the public and let it be known."
The information for the report is obtained by Environics, a statistical analytics agency, and from Statistics Canada. The cost of the economic indicators report is covered through the membership fees paid to CAEP, he said.
"The reports are highly useful for promoting Sundre to potential investors. They are included with our investor packages when we try to speak to developers."
But the information is also crucial for council and administration to make informed decisions, he said.
"So when we are thinking about policy decisions, or when we just need to have data, it's right there at our fingertips."
According to the statistical analytics agency and Statistics Canada, there were 385 businesses located in Sundre in 2015 based on information gathered from the North American Industrial Classification System, he said.
Of those businesses, 67 are in construction and materials, with almost 40 in manufacturing as well as in finance, insurance and real estate. Legal, accounting and business services totalled just more than 40, while restaurants, educational, health and social services as well as agricultural and natural resources made up about 30 each.
Additionally, "we have identified 101 acres as industrial growth potential," he said.
Going through slides during his presentation, Allan said a chart highlighting the number of employees working for businesses is really important.
"About 54 to 56 per cent of our GDP is made up of small to medium sized businesses. A full 91 per cent of Alberta's labour force is employed in small and medium sized businesses ó not the big, big businesses that people think of."
That goes to show how important it is to not only attract but also retain small to medium sized businesses to the community. Roughly two-thirds of the 385 businesses, or almost 240, highlighted in the report have one to four employees, he said.
"That's significant actually."
Only five businesses had between 100 and 499 employees, while none employ 500 or more, according to the report.
The gross average annual income per household is just shy of $80,000, while the net average annual income per household is just less than $54,000. The average rated rent by type of apartment ranged from $700 to $1,150 for a two-bedroom unit. Interestingly, the average rated rent for a three-bedroom unit was about $750, he said.
"That's a really round number, and it makes me wonder how many variables they got to contribute to that statistic," said Allan. "I've talked to some people that say it's a lot more though ó just want to put that out there."
Coun. Chris Vardas, who was chairing the meeting in Mayor Terry Leslie's absence, agreed.
"It is a lot more," he said.
The report also included a breakdown on the average median age of men, which is 41, and women, which is 47, said Allan, continuing with the presentation.
Educationally speaking, a good portion of people have at least high school, he said, adding a strong number also have a university degree, certificate or college.
"But there is a large proportion also that do have no certificate or diploma."
According to the report, 663 people have a high school diploma or equivalent, while 305 have a university degree and another 519 have a college or non-university certificate or diploma. However, 516 have no certificate, diploma or degree.
"Looking at some information that is done by the OECD, if I remember correctly, this is quite similar to other countries that are part of the OECD," said Allan, referring to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
The information he provided was a sampling of the overall report, which is for the public's use, and he opened the floor to questions from council.
Coun. Jodi Orr commented to point out the average rent rates were listed on the report as types of apartments.
"I think they're just going by the apartments that we have in town ó not by a house that is being rented out," she said, adding the average rental rate in the report is about right for apartments.
"That's a good qualifier," said Allan.
Orr thanked him for presenting the information, and said the report is great to hand out to realtors and anyone who's thinking about moving to Sundre.
"It's just a wonderful resource," she said.
