Prince Albert city council has heard concerns a proposed police base tax would unfairly impact affordable housing agencies, landlords and low-income residents. However, the majority of council supports the tax as an effective and equitable way to fund additional police officers.
The $35 annual tax would be applied to all properties in the city. Multi-unit residential properties would be charged per unit. The tax is expected to generate $554,505 in 2021, enough to hire four more police officers.
After over an hour of discussion on Monday night, the property tax bylaw, which includes the $35 base tax, passed two readings by a seven-to-two margin. It’s up for third reading and final approval on Wednesday.
Creation of committee to oversee rec centre project gets pushback from some councillors
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Council approves conceptual design for new multimillion dollar rec complex
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“We as council hear all the time that we have problems with crime, we have gangs, all of these situations that are present in the city,” he told the meeting. “We have to do something about it. We have an organization, the John Howard Society that wants to do something about it.”
Ogrodnick argued it would be better to have vulnerable youth living in a supportive, supervised facility than renting an apartment themselves, something he said could very well happen “if we don’t approve this.”
The proposed location of the care home beside Kinsmen Park is shown in red. (Council Agenda Package/City of P.A.)
Prince Albert city council puts brakes on residential care home for at risk youth
In a narrow 5-4 decision Monday night, Prince Albert council nixed plans to move forward with a residential care home for at risk youth in the city.
The John Howard Society of Saskatchewan had applied for a rezoning permit to convert an apartment building on 1
st Avenue West into a supervised facility for about five young people aged 18-21.
Two staff would serve in a supervisory capacity on a 24-hour basis.
The idea was to provide a place for these youth to live while they participated in various programming including work skills training, land-based learning and cultural connections.