Central Albertans were not forgotten in the Alberta 2020 Budget as announced yesterday by Finance Minister Travis Toews, where the City of Red Deer was promised millions of dollars for critical infrastructure upgrades and social infrastructure development. 

Following this week's announcement of $100 million for the first phase of expansion on the Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre, Red Deer Mayor Tara Veer also highlighted a number of other initiatives the City will be receiving funding for.

Among those projects was the announcement of a $7 million commitment to help bring a new 24-hour Integrated Emergency Shelter to Red Deer.

"I will say that obviously, as a community we've been advocating on the shelter. It's one of our strongly identified social infrastructure needs for us to be able to respond to some of the safety challenges, in terms of the approximately 60-80 rough sleeper camps in the parks system, and some of the spillover of social challenges we see downtown," Veer said.

"Securing the capital funding for this from the Province was our first order of business," Veer said, adding that she and Councillor Michael Dawe had recently spoken to Minister Josephine Pon, where there was an indication that the Provincial Government was looking to begin work on this project "quite quickly."

Five years ago an "interim" daytime-use shelter was brought in to address the needs of people experiencing homelessness in Red Deer, and that shelter is still being used in an attempt to manage the population of users who need to access that service. Veer said the new emergency shelter would provide a stronger solution for this population, rather than the "temporary" trailer structure that is currently in use. 

Another major success is the commitment from the AB Government to support the construction of the Red Deer Justice Centre, which Veer says is crucial to upholding the various charges put forth by central Alberta officers. 

Budget 2020 commits to bringing forward 50 new Crown Prosecutors for the province, and Veer said they are hoping to see a minimum of a few extra persons to help in the interim as the province works to fill those positions. 

"We have shifted from a reactive model of policing to a more pro-active model of policing, and so if more charges are being laid against criminals in this city, it's absolutely imperative for our justice objectives for those charges to be upheld by the courts," Veer said. "One of the great challenges we are faced with is because of the lack of crown prosecutorial capacity. Some cases are triaged out because they can't be heard in  time."

"We know that we are approximately two years away from the opening of the Justice Centre, but we cannot wait that long for Crown prosecutors. We need capacity in the Crown Prosecutor's office to ensure that charges are upheld."

Veer said that City Council has engaged in advocacy to other levels of government, speaking with MLAs, MPs, and other Provincial departments to move the issue forward. 

Changes to police fine revenue and grants in lieu are moving forward as announced during the 2019 Provincial Budget, while Municipal Sustainability Initiative (MSI) funding will see an unanticipated increase in 2020 before decreasing in 2021, as expected.

The City of Red Deer planned for reductions in 2020 capital and operating budgets based on the 2019 provincial budget estimates. Funding for Family and Community Support Services (FCSS) and Outreach and Support Services Initiative (OSSI) programs appear to be stable.

“While the 2020 provincial investment in justice, health, social and general municipal infrastructure comes at a time when we, as local government, are working to maintain services and infrastructure for 2020 and beyond, there is still more work to be done,” said Veer. “We will continue to advocate, for example, residential treatment and increased affordable housing in Red Deer.”

Administration will continue to review the Provincial Budget and watch for more details in the coming weeks. The impact on property tax notices will be calculated in April when the approved municipal operating budget is combined with the provincial education requisition and tax rates are set by Red Deer City Council.

To view the full budget response release from the City of Red Deer, click here. 

-With files from the City of Red Deer