We often talk about two levers we have at our disposal to manage a balanced budget. Those are:

1) reduction in services and programs and,
2) increase taxation.

The community has asked us us for two things. Firstly: do not reduce services and programs… in fact increase them. Secondly: do not increase taxation but if you must request an increase please be certain it’s not greater than the national CPI levels annually.

How do we apply these competing options? I think we do that in two ways.

Firstly, we manage our expenses as appropriately as we can.

* We look at the real cost to provide service whether that is road provision or building new facilities. Indeed the new accounting standards that all municipalities have adopted will go a long way to help us understand the real cost of decisions. They require municipalities to capitalize infrastructure, buildings, and other assets and record yearly depreciation. Before 2009 municipalities were allowed to record most of these items as operating expenses and so a true picture of infrastructure decay was not readily available. We’re now able to build appropriate reserve funds to handle repair and replacement of these based on this information.
* We also push out our capital plan further and delay projects. In order to keep below our debt limit and to avoid high increases in taxation we must put on hold a number of projects and amenities that the community requests. These will come in time as capital reserves are available.

Secondly, we think about taxation in responsible ways.

* There is a philosophy to take “only what we need,” but this means increasing fees and taxes. Even small increases are not easily understood by the public. There are many many factors that aren’t under control of government. I’ll save that for another time.

So that is the background and it leaves us in a bit of a pickle. We want to increase service level and provide new amenities, but we also need to keep taxation down.

There is a third lever.

I believe we have three levers when we consider the budget. The first two are a little more understandable, the third doesn’t get as much attention as it deserves. Our third lever has an economic development focus.

3) Increase revenues without increasing taxation.

This is where innovation in economic development strategies could play such an important part.

Former Councillor Larry Pimm was known for his stories and analogies. I found it very useful as I watched Council work through ideas and challenges and promised myself that I would try to remember the importance of a narrative.

A couple of years ago I was in northern England.

Like people that want to be with the horses when they come to Alberta, I was quite curious about the sheep I saw all around. I had to get up close and see what these creatures were like. We stopped at a number of pastures throughout that visit. I really wanted to get some pictures of sheep fairly close up.

Not only are sheep cute up close but I discovered they are fairly bright creatures. I’m sure some will disagree. Sometime during that week I heard this story. Many years ago, sheep flocks used to be contained on pastures with stones walls high enough they can’t get out. The entrance to the pasture consisted of several bars of iron across a ditch, very much like our cattle grates in Alberta.

The sheep wouldn’t cross that gate.

One day a particularly bright sheep perhaps was thinking that the green pasture would be richer on the other side. Perhaps it was sick of the same old diet. Maybe the cowslips or other wild flowers looked particularly appetizing. For whatever reason this one sheep discovered that if it were to lay itself down beside the grate and then roll across the grate on its back it could escape the pasture.

One bright sheep, very clever.

Here’s the interesting thing. How animals communicate is unclear? Perhaps some collective consciousness. Within a few months all of the sheep in England could no longer be contained with sheep gates. They all had learned from one another to escape the pasture and take full advantage of the other side.

Farmers were quick to adapt and installed a new type of vertical gate that sheep couldn’t physically negotiate.

If we could understand the language of ‘sheep’ we’d probably discover that they are plotting their NEXT big escape.

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In this analogy I’m not assigning roles to anyone… there is no shepherd here. We all, the community, Council, and administration are the sheep. When one of us learns something new let’s find a way for us all to learn it.

The fence and the sheep gate are the paradigm that we’ve all been functioning within. Just like the sheep, we have been fenced in by our own thinking. We believed we had two choices, that our menu is limited. We either reduce services, or increase taxation.

Bright Sheep Projects

The brownfield initiative will bring back a revenue stream on sites which we’ve been losing. By recovering these we are neither reducing services or increasing taxation.

Another project is leading the way on work which will attract residential and retail development to the downtown. This will have the effect once again of increasing revenue without either reducing services or increasing taxation.

These are only two of many projects that have begun in 2011. City Council’s new focus on Economic Development within the city will demonstrate many more projects that make great use of our existing assets.

The great thing about these projects is that they both have an effect, not only by increasing our revenue options but also by reducing expenses. One simply example of this is the reduction in crime rates, and all that is associated with them. This results when districts become more active and cared for.

Old Restaurant Fire.

Let me share with you a couple of examples, firstly the location beside Gaetz Avenue church on Ross Street. It has been vacant for at least 12 years. The basement space has been problematic for crime and bullying. The owners have had to keep it fenced. It does nothing to enhance the downtown or to invite visitors and new investment.

What if we had created policy, investment, incentive, and encouraged it’s redevelopment many years ago. How would that space look different now? We could have had new retail and residential thriving today. It could be generating strong tax revenue for the community and enhancing the downtown.

Eclectic Market.

Another example is an abandoned building on Gaetz Avenue two doors south of Potter’s hands. It sits boarded up and vacant and has for years. The tax revenue we receive from that property is insignificant. What’s worse is that this building is being used for storage and is poorly maintained. We know that buildings like this have a higher risk of fire. This could be an example of demolition by neglect. Again, it has a negative effect on our community and at the same time isn’t contributing to what should be a thriving street.

These are just two examples in our community of opportunities that exist to increase service to the community by helping useful development occur, and at the same time not having to increase taxation.

I’m sure there are many many opportunities not exactly like this but similar. We can attract new investment, that positively impacts our community. New investment will result in new revenue, and better use of our existing assets. In a time when we struggle to find all of the funds we need for new capital assets, such as: bike lanes, connector roads, concert hall, new library branches, we’ve had to push out many of these projects into the future.

If we could create new revenue through “one bright sheep” initiatives we could foster better service, reduce taxation, or bring pull forward some of the capital items that we’ve pushed out.

Instill

I hope that we can instill a strong sense of economic development at the department level. I believe that we should have three levers to handle the budget next year.

1) Manage our expenses as appropriately as we can. Which, I think we are doing fairly well with. Certainly, we have enough border collie in our group to keep an eye on expenses.

2) Increase taxation only as much as is needed. Compelling cases are being made for increased taxation. Even at the moderate level of 3.98% there were many requests from departments for worthwhile projects and programs that would better our community.

3) Increase revenue through finding opportunities to better use and market of our community resources. These are economic development opportunities within our City, that will both offer something new to the community as well as improve our tax base without major development of infrastructure.

Teach one another to cross

I hope that we’ll be like these bright sheep and that every department will learn from one another how to cross the sheep gate for greener pastures. To continue to foster innovation and transformative thinking.

The work we are doing with the Central Alberta Economic Partnership and Red Deer Regional Economic Development are very important from a growth perspective, and the new developments in the City are important, however we must remember that:

New developments come with new expenses.

We need:

New developments that come with few expenses.

An economic development plan that explores local opportunities, within Red Deer, would have a major impact on our revenue stream with a lesser effect on our expenses. I believe that we should be pursuing this avenue with vigour.

One bright sheep ideas don’t just relate to land development, they look at all of our assets and try to find ways to turn difficulties into opportunities. Expenses into revenue. Weakness into community amenities.

The City is wrestling with infrastructure deficit from years past, and an expanding city footprint. We are functioning under the old paradigm that growth is the ‘only’ good — Red Deer at 300,000 with the assumption that our values, the environment, and economy will all be the same if and when we get there.

The fundraiser was held last Wednesday and about 75 people attended. It was a successful event. The music was a great, the food was great, and conversations were wonderful. It was good to be able to address and hopefully inspire the audience. Everyone is invited to contribute to the campaign through this website. It’s easy to do, just click the “Make a Donation” button and follow the prompts.

We’ve reached the magic 500 on the Facebook page well before the 20th of September. Our commitment now is to plant one tree for every 100 likes on this page. I know everyone on the page are supporters (with the odd spy in the mix for good measure), and I appreciate the comments and questions. I’m inviting each of you to share the Facebook page www.facebook.com/harris4rd, via email with others or use the suggest to friends link on the left side of it.

Perhaps we can plant a dozen trees before October 18th. Sunnybrook Farm has accepted our gift. They’ll choose the trees for their new orchard. Any funds left from this campaign must be donated by law. We’ll donate them to the Red Deer & District Community Foundation for environmental initiatives.

This week we launched a video created, written, and produced by a very talented young couple in Red Deer. I trust it resonates with the youth of our community and others. Here’s the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klK0oS-HVb4 Please feel free to share it around.

Some say that the election will be a sleeper because there is only one person running for Mayor. Let me remind you all that Council is your voice into the City. The Mayor is one vote only on items facing Council. You need the right Council members to turn the ship into the wind and sail in a new direction.

Next Saturday join me and our campaign team with the Bike Parade, starting at 11 a.m. on Notre Dame school. Lime green and baby blue are the campaign colours should you choose to match.

Mark September 30th on your calendar for a community movie night at the Matchbox Theatre. It’s going to be a double feature. It’s free, just come, bring your family and friends, and enjoy. The first movie will be Finding Farley and the second What’s Up Doc. Babycakes are contributing some wonderful cupcakes for the evening. There will be more details coming in the next week or so. http://www.facebook.com/harris4rd?v=app_2344061033#!/event.php?eid=143458595684123&index=1 Here’s the event link to give us some sense of the numbers. The theatre holds 120 people. Thanks to Dr. Corrales, the Matchbox, and Babycakes for your efforts and organizing.

As always, I’m available by phone, via email, twitter, or in person at my Sunworks office, and of course the market.

We’ve got a couple more very fun events and activities coming up and a load of forums. All the information will be coming to you soon.

Please keep in touch, enjoy the election process, and speak up to every candidate about your desires and your concerns.

Sincerely, Paul 

The eco-friendly campaign bags were a big hit — some even grew legs and disappeared.  Here’s hoping they get really well used, logo side out!  There are a least 20 Paul Harris for Red Deer City Council bags out there.  We’ll be giving a tree to the person who sends in the best picture of someone with a campaign bag.  So far the first picture we’ve seen is from the Latin Festival.  It’s a picture of me rooting around the bottom of the bag looking for more “connect with me”  cards in Spanish.  I look goofy and surprised to see that I’ve used nearly all 250! Thanks Craig, you’re top in the running for a tree, but I’m sure the competition will be stiff.  There’s a landscaper on the team that will be out to plant the tree for the winner in the spring.

I’ve been at the Public Market every week for the past five weeks and I’ve met a lot of really great people. The thing that strikes me the most about all of these conversation is the way people talk about the things that are important to them. Sometimes we have to get our concerns about tax increases, snow removal, too many skunks and crows, the crime in the city, or dog-eating beavers, out of our system. But then everyone goes on to share really powerful images of things that they would like for our community.  Some ideas are simple and some are grand but all are achievable.

We’ve had cards made in a few different languages with the help of CARE (Central Alberta Refugee Effort) and ACFA (L’Association Canadienne-Française de l’Alberta), with one really good question for people to ponder. Send me a note sometime during this campaign with your thoughts.

People move to great cities and stay because they are vibrant and alive. What’s one wish or possibility that excites you, that would help Red Deer thrive and make it an even better place for you?

There have been quite a number of people that have suggested a spray park for kids — not just a few people, but it’s right up there with doing a better job with snow removal.  Then there have been some really simple suggestions that would be easy to do and not costly to implement.  I’ll be posting some of these on a page on the website in the future.

My market spot  is across from Dianne Wyntjes, on the intersection between the old and the new parts of the market.  She and I have been the only candidates out at the market seriously.  Although not running, Vesna Higham was quoted in the Advocate this week  “To really get a feel for someone, however, there’s nothing like an actual meet and greet. Any candidate worth our vote will soon be manning tables at our beloved Farmer’s Market every Saturday morning ‘til the election on October 18.”   I have to agree with her and I hope that she meant that as an endorsement for the work we’ve been doing to get out and meet citizens.   Chris Stephen made a point of stopping by this week to says he’ll be out campaigning in a couple of weeks.

I’ve appreciated the number of people that have come by to offer support and encouragement.  A couple of weeks ago, I got a lovely thumbs up from our former mayor Gail Surkan, while she wrestled with her grand babies.

I suppose my favourite moment today was conversing with a new Canadian whose first language was Tagalog.  She was pleased that the campaign material would be translated very soon.  She took my card and told me how very excited she was to be able to vote as a Canadian and how she was really looking forward to it.  I wonder if the work that the campaign team, supporters, and I are doing this year will help increase the voter turn out from 22.04% in 2007.  It was inspiring to see her enthusiasm and understanding of the importance of voting.  I wish every Red Deerian could have met her.

I packed up at the market and headed down to Sunworks where I set up my table in front of the shop for the Latin Festival, which was by then in full swing.  I wandered the crowd for a couple of hours handing out my cards in Spanish and visiting with people I knew or met.  Thanks, Carmen, for all you did for me.  I had a great conversation with Cesar from the Latin Press.  The festival was brilliant and such a great example of celebrating diversity, gathering to be together, and letting the local leadership organize the way they want to.  By 3:30 I was absolutely pooped, talked-out, and weary… but I headed home to begin to gather my wits and make ready for the block party my partner, my niece and I organized on our street.

It was a great day all round with so many new connections formed.  It was nice to have today to reflect for a while on the meaning of what is happening now and what it means for the future.

Next week we have the opportunity to view the some of the City-owned buildings in Riverlands that might be suitable for a year-round public market.  On July 29th we’ll meet at Sunworks at 2:00 p.m. and then walk over to the old bus barns from here.  If you are interested in participating in the establishment of a year-round market please let me know.  I’ll have a sign up sheet on Saturday.

Also we are launching the campaign website on Saturday morning.  I’ll have those details at the market as well, but certainly stay tuned to Facebook and Twitter once it is up and live.  Truly, I’m looking forward to meeting and chatting with as many of you as I can during the campaign.  Don’t hesitate to call.

Today the campaign page on Facebook reached the magic number of 250. Thank you all.

The first week of July we’ll have an informal gathering to talk about the direction of the campaign and clarify some of the important key messages from your perspective. I hope that we’ll be able to work together to create a successful campaign. I’ll let you know when and where. Please, if you are interested in attending let me know, so that we can get the size of the venue correct.

Many people have come to my office to offer encouragement and support. Some have asked me the question “are you sure you want to do this?” Without hesitation, I’ve answered that I’m completely sure. Now is the time. I feel that I can do more good for our City from a position on City Council than I can from the outside. Examples continue to arise, both big and small.

This isn’t going to be a simple race but it will be in productive one. If we can “move the needle” on some of the issues and desires as the campaign progresses, it will have been a success.

I need your support. I invite you to share this website with your friends and others that are interested in seeing positive change for our community OR join the Facebook page but clicking on the link at the top of this screen.

We are working on completing the website in the next several days, and that will offer one more way to make connections with the campaign.

As always I invite your comments, ideas, and wisdom. I truly believe that Red Deer may be on the verge of doing some incredible things that will help us meet the challenges of the future — in a way that is financially responsible. Now is not the time to wait and see. Each of us must become involved in our own way. Pick a reason to vote.

I’m looking forward working with you all.

Paul.