Prince Albert city council has approved a new tax to fund additional police officers and rejected a proposed amendment that would have lessened the financial burden on non-profit housing agencies.
The $35 annual base tax will 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.
The police base tax was approved as part of the 2021 property tax bylaw, which also saw council increase the minimum tax by $100.
On Monday night, council heard concerns from Brian Howell of Riverbank Development Corporation who said the new police base tax would hurt affordable housing providers who can’t afford to raise their clients’ rents. Howell said he would prefer to see increases go through the general mill rate so the amount properties pay is proportionate to their assessed value.
Currently only the first $60 million phase two arenas and an aquatic centre is funded. The city has secured $44 million of federal and provincial money and has approved taking out a $16 million dollar loan for the remainder.
Phase two, which will include a WHL-size arena, is also estimated to cost $60 million. A daycare and branch library, estimated at $5 million, are planned for phase three.
Dionne told council on Monday night he was bringing forward the proposal for the fundraising committee at that time because he was “soon going to accept a $1 million dollar donation towards the aquatic centre.”
“So, I need to get some agreements drafted,” he said.
Council pauses plan for positive storytelling campaign panow.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from panow.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
“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.