Medicine Hat Minute: Unemployment Rate, Recreation Closures, and Final Budget Meeting

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

This Week In Medicine Hat:

• There will be a City Council meeting today, beginning with a closed session at 3:45 pm and opening up to the public at 6:30 pm. At this meeting, Council will pass the budget, which proposes an annual 4% increase to property taxes in both 2023 and 2024, as well as an additional 1% increase to property taxes related to assessment growth in each year. Watch your inbox for a recap of all the details.
  
  
• The Corporate Services Committee will meet on Thursday at 11:00 am. No agenda is available for this meeting yet.
  
  
• The City is looking for feedback on its Smoke Free Outdoor Public Places bylaw. A proposed amendment looks to ban smoking in outdoor public spaces such as parks, outdoor gatherings, public events, and markets and to expand the definition of smoking to include vaping. Hatters can review the bylaw and provide feedback online.

Last Week In Medicine Hat:

• It was a bad week for recreation facilities in Medicine Hat. The Crestwood Rec Centre was closed on Tuesday due to a mechanical failure, prompting postponement or cancellation of some scheduled programming. The facility re-opened on Friday. Unfortunately, the Medicine Hat Curling Club has closed for the entirety of the 2022-23 season. The closure is due to poor ice conditions caused by cooling lines. Those who have already paid for memberships will be contacted about reimbursement.
  
  
• Premier Danielle Smith confirmed that Brooks-Medicine Hat constituency offices will remain in the same location as prior to the byelection. Smith will use the offices of former Brooks-Medicine Hat MLA Michaela Frey, a main office at 4-650 Cassils Road in Brooks and a satellite office at 537 Fourth Street SE in Medicine Hat. The phone numbers and email address also remain the same.
  
  
• The local unemployment rate decreased in the Lethbridge-Medicine Hat region. While jobless numbers increased in the province as a whole, locally, the unemployment rate for November was 2.9%, compared with 3.3% in October. National unemployment is also trending downwards and is currently sitting at 5.1%.

-----

Donate:

Common Sense Medicine Hat doesn't accept any government funding and never will. We think you should be free to choose, for yourself, which organizations to support. If you're in a position to contribute financially, you can make a donation here.

-----

Share:

If you're not in a position to donate, we understand, but if you appreciate our work, you can help by spreading our message. Please email this post to your friends, share it on Facebook or Twitter, and help make sure every Hatter knows what's really going on at City Hall.