Medicine Hat Minute: Police Funding, Construction Concerns, and Budget Decision Delayed

Medicine Hat Minute - Your weekly one-minute summary of Medicine Hat politics

This Week In Medicine Hat:

• The Public Services Committee will meet today at 3:45 pm. The agenda includes the Towne Square public washrooms, a South Eastern Alberta Search and Rescue Association Update, and a trail snow removal update.
  
  
• The Administrative and Legislative Review Committee will meet on Tuesday at 4:00 pm. No agenda is available for this meeting yet.
  
  
• Council is considering creating an arms-length corporation to manage its energy businesses as well as forming a Utility Rates Review Committee. This proposal follows a KPMG review, which recommended transitioning the City's energy operations into a municipally-controlled corporation (MCC), similar to Edmonton's EPCOR or Calgary's ENMAX. The MCC would remain fully City-owned, with an independent board overseeing energy-related decisions. Council also plans to revisit its natural gas business strategy to reduce losses and potentially retire or sell assets.

Last Week In Medicine Hat:

• Council has postponed its decision on the 2025-2026 budget until December 16th, requesting more information on funding requests from community organizations, like HALO Air Ambulance. The draft budget proposes a 5.6% property tax increase for each year. Despite challenges such as declining energy earnings and reduced government transfers, staff were able to find savings through capital reductions and workforce adjustments. The City is required by Alberta law to pass the budget by the end of the year.
  
  
• The Medicine Hat Police Service (MHPS) has proposed a 2025-2026 budget seeking funds for three additional downtown patrol officers and the replacement of outdated firearms. The budget includes $275,000 to replace handguns issued in the 1990s and aims to improve resources for the downtown patrol unit, addressing increasing demands in the area. It also includes several capital items, such as $12,000 to upgrade a "fuming chamber" for faster fingerprint detection, $20,000 for a drone to assist with investigations, and $35,000 to replace roadside alcohol screening devices. The operating budget is requested to increase by $1.3 million from the previous year, driven mainly by salary increases.
  
  
• Private landowners near the proposed Saamis Solar Park have raised concerns about the City’s phased construction approach for the 1,600-acre solar project. They argue that staged development could delay utility servicing to their land, hindering future residential or commercial development plans. The Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC) previously approved the project based on its original full-scale plan by DP Energy, but the landowners claim the City's phased approach changes key project assumptions. Additionally, the Medicine Hat Utility Ratepayers Association has challenged the project's economic viability and stakeholder consultation process.

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