(L-R) City of Lacombe Chief Administrative Officer Matthew Goudy and Mayor Grant Creasey at City Hall. (rdnewsNOW/Alessia Proietti)

By Alessia Proietti

transparency and creativity

Lacombe says positive relationships within the city have led to a successful 2023

Jan 18, 2024 | 3:25 PM

In a year-end review, the City of Lacombe says that various positive relationships have helped them ensure a positive 2023 economically and socially.

“It’s really good to have a positive relationship between the mayor and the CAO, that is where it starts, the council and the administration has a good relationship, and that leads to a good relationship between council and the community and when you have that kind of a culture throughout the community, you don’t get divisive behavior and politics,” said Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Matthew Goudy.

HIGHLIGHTS OF 2023

Mayor Grant Creasey said a major 2023 highlight was the groundbreaking of their new Public Works Facility. One of the largest buildings the City ever built at $10.8 million. He expects the facility to last over half a century.

Built on 12 acres in the new City-owned Len Thompson Industrial Park, Goudy says there will be room to grow and he hopes the build will attract new businesses to the area. He adds, the current facility is not only old and outgrown but located in the city’s school zones and along the lake front, which could be used for better projects in the future.

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Financially, Goudy says the City’s approach to their $48 million budget has allowed them to remain in good shape, ending the year with a significant surplus and similar expectations for 2024.

Creasey says the City has established priorities and found creative ways to finance projects efficiently with various streams of income.

One example includes their arrangement with Vesta Energy to repurpose their former lagoons. What was once estimated to cost the City $14 million in reclamations has now been transformed to a water storage operation for the company, amounting to nearly $750,000 in revenues for the City, or five per cent of their tax requisitions, and the 2023 Economic Developers Alberta Community Award of Excellence.

READ: City of Lacombe wins provincial award for repurposing former lagoons

Other examples include an aggressive capital works program to improve city streets, increasing offsite levies, and partnering with an apartment developer to build an accessible playground, which would have cost the City half a million dollars, Goudy stated.

“A lot of people are under the misconception that municipal finances are no big deal; if you need more money, you just increase taxes. I can tell you; it does not work that way. We try and be as reasonable as we possibly can while understanding things have costs in all of our households. It’s the same for the City,” said Creasey, adding that they do what they can for the community, without getting carried away.

“It’s reflected in the bottom line; it simply costs more to operate a city now and that’s just to keep things on an even playing field. You’re still bombarded by an awful lot of groups that see the municipality as some big cash cow that’s able to provide whatever it is that they want.”

Goudy added that this stable and transparent approach has helped them maintain tax rate increase below inflation over the past five years. Rather than portraying taxes in one way to overly correct them the next, Goudy says they have targeted the consumer price index for predictable, understandable, and justifiable tax increases between one to four per cent.

The City’s Downtown Area Redevelopment Plan (DARP) Committee has also won accolades like the Community Planning Association of Alberta award for their ‘Heart of Lacombe’ landmark, and is working to create a pedestrian plaza space, recently receiving a $200,000 provincial grant for the project.

READ MORE:

‘Heart of Lacombe’ wins Community Planning Association of Alberta award

City of Lacombe receives $200,000 from provincial government for Downtown Area Redevelopment Plan

Goudy says last year’s expansion of the Community Builder Partnership Grant to $100,000 was also met with positive feedback, as 94 per cent of the funds were allocated to local groups in e-gaming, Pride celebrations, and a Lacombe Days concert, among other initiatives. With the remaining funds pooled into 2024, he says the community had more control over its distribution with less demand on council.

READ: Lacombe combines two community grants with aim to draw larger events

Creasey said the City’s initiatives were recently highlighted by Minister of Municipal Affairs Ric McIver at an event for mid-sized cities in Canmore.

“Awards and accolades are not necessarily a thing to measure a community by but it’s still pretty special when you consider there’s several hundred municipalities that, in theory, would be eligible for those types of awards across the community to be selected,” he said.

2023 CHALLENGES

Some challenges for the City included the Lacombe Market Square project falling through with Canadian Tire. However, the City says they were able to protect public money by having their $750,000 investment returned with interest. As the company owns the property, they say there is no update on what is expected with the land.

While homelessness increases nationwide, Creasey says it has not become a big issue in the city. Although a transitional housing project did not continue due to lack of funding, they say the City’s Affordable Housing Strategy Steering Committee continues to meet.

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Goudy says as homeless issues can quickly become too big for municipalities to handle, Lacombe has been proactive in tackling the few encampments that appear in the summer with tailored and individual approaches and various local agencies.

THE YEAR AHEAD

As the City finalizes their new fire services agreement with Lacombe County in hopes to become a regional service provider, as they do with water and sewage to generate revenue, they have budgeted to make progress towards their new fire hall. The current facility is not owned by the City and Creasey says this project has been in their long-term plan for years.

They will also be purchasing two new trucks at $3 million to replace those that are over 20 years old and no longer covered by insurance.

In entertainment, the City says they are excited council’s recent approval for the Pan Continental Curling Championship qualifying event to come to Lacombe’s Gary Moe Auto Group Sportsplex in September 2024, attracting 40 teams worldwide.

Above all, Creasey and Goudy said the most important part of the year was witnessing the consistent generosity of the community that never seems to fade.

“The good people that do make up those are the ones that probably inspire others and offer that type of encouragement through their commitment to making things better,” said the mayor.

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