SUNDRE – Funding sought by STARS as well as the Sundre and District Chamber of Commerce did not make the final cut during a recent council debate on whether to include late additions to the 2025 budget.
Council deliberated the potential additions at length during the Nov. 25 meeting, which including some delegates was attended by a full gallery of approximately 15 people. The updated four-year budget and 10-year capital plan was expected to be approved during the Dec. 2 meeting.
Originally adopted in December 2022, the 2023-26 budget that is reviewed annually based on new information and requests was last updated this fall following a council workshop, said Chris Albert, director of corporate services.
A new funding request from STARS as well as an increased requisition sought by the chamber and whether to approve a proposal from Performance Sponsorship Group to investigate naming rights for town-owned facilities were ultimately all declined after lengthy back-and-forth discussions.
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Following Albert’s presentation, council embarked on a roundtable discussion. Only Coun. Paul Isaac was not present on an approved leave of absence.
A motion presented by Coun. Jaime Marr sought to approve the funding request for STARS to the tune of $5,400 per year in 2025 and 2026.
Coun. Todd Dalke said not only he but also the community already support STARS in many ways and that he could not support the motion. He added that funding a health-care service like STARS is not a municipality’s responsibility.
Recognizing the essential service STARS provides, Coun. Owen Petersen was also opposed.
“In my opinion the Alberta Government, whose responsibility is health care, gets an amazing deal by having STARS run the air ambulance service,” he said, adding the organization gets 40 per cent of its funding from Albertans’ income taxes.
“The rest is made up of donations of the good people of Alberta. We already support them with our money…I do not want to start giving them our property tax dollars as well.”
Although Coun. Chris Vardas was initially in favour following the presentation by STARS delegates, the councillor had since reconsidered his position.
“It’s almost like they’re double dipping and the government’s backing off and handing (the responsibility) down to municipalities again,” he said.
While mayor Richard Warnock agreed health care is a provincial responsibility and that the government has tended to download more and more costs onto municipalities, he spoke in support of the motion for a two-year commitment.
“It’s not forever,” he said, adding the move would also give the municipality an opportunity to approach the province “and say, ‘Look what you’re making us do. You’re making us pay the bill when you should be paying the bill.’”
The motion was defeated on a tie, with Marr, Warnock and Coun. Connie Anderson in favour and Dalke, Vardas, and Petersen opposed.
And whether to spend $25,000 to investigate the potential revenue-generating opportunities of corporate naming rights also conjured up a debate that ultimately led council to push back the item until a naming policy was established and proper request for decision could be prepared.
An initial motion presented by Vardas to approve the one-time expense that he asserted would in the long run create a new income stream was defeated on a tie vote with Marr, Dalke, and Warnock opposed.
However, both Marr and Warnock felt the file warranted further investigation, and a second motion by Vardas directing administration to present a request for proposal with a naming policy carried unanimously.
In another decision that was not unanimous, council did not approve the chamber’s request for additional funding.
Speaking opposed, Petersen said the funding wasn’t for the chamber in general but rather the visitor information centre.
“Google does a lot of the work that visitor information centres used to do,” he said. “I am not convinced that there is a future for visitor information centres in the world.”
Expressing a sentimental attachment with the VIC from his experience of having worked there as a teenager, Petersen said, “I just don’t think people are using it.”
As well, those who go into the building do so for other reasons, he said, adding, “It is almost not primarily a visitor information centre at this moment, it is primarily used for something else.”
The VIC also serves as the local hub for courier services and parcel pickups.
Speaking in favour of supporting the chamber’s request to increase funding in the amount of $4,500 for one year, the mayor said the chamber is being tasked with offering the service and doing what it can to keep the VIC open seven days a week at a nominal cost.
Additionally, Warnock envisions the municipality eventually assuming responsibility for the VIC and said terms should be negotiated with the chamber before passing the situation onto the next council.
Although the mayor and Anderson supported it, the motion was defeated.
