Candidate Questions - Patrick Boyle
1. In 2023, for several reasons, a secondary audit was requested of SAMA. SAMA declined this request. Currently the City and council have chosen to do nothing in regards to this issue. What are you prepared to do?
I believe that we need to review how assessments are done. This was starting to be an issue when I was on council in 2012-2016 when I first served, and it seems to have gotten worse. We seem to have more assessment appeals than other larger centres, so this is an issue that needs to be looked at. Other cities like Swift Current and Prince Albert have their own in-house staff. I believe we need to review the cost benefit from the assessment losses to the cost of using our own staff. Generally, it is difficult to defend an assessment process when you have no control over it as a municipality.
2. Saskatoon has a Governance Committee which oversees their property tax/assessment department, and theirs far exceeds ours. Are you prepared to implement the changes needed in order to mirror/reflect theirs? Or something better?
This would be part of a review to implement and improve our current practices. I would seek to understand what other strategies and tactics other municipalities are using and how we could bring a best practice and an improved process to Moose Jaw. Clearly, there are other ways of handling assessments, and it needs to be looked at and improved.
3. a). In your words, What does a Moose Jaw Citizen say when they are asked “What do you think of Moose Jaw?”
Currently, I have been hearing a lot about the state of things, from infrastructure to community safety. Residents are starting to question the value of their tax dollars and where it is going. I believe people are getting somewhat frustrated because they care about their community, they want to see Moose Jaw have success. I hear a lot from people about the potential in what could be for the city.
b). If you are elected, What will the Citizens be saying in 4 years?
Although I don’t have a DeLorean to jump to the future of 2028, my hope is that we start to see the potential of Moose Jaw be realized in some way where we are proud of our city and have a growing vibrant community to live work and raise a family. I hope citizens will see investments in infrastructure and a growing business community with a lot of economic activity. These would be everything from concerts/events to serious long-term growth opportunities from companies looking to invest in Moose Jaw and create jobs. I also want citizens to look back in four years and say how we are more service oriented as a city we are here to serve our citizens and need to ensure that is always our focus.
4. Right now there is a lot of talk about a proposed hotel on the zero block of River Street West. Rumours which include the potential building of a parkade by the City in the area. The question is as an elected official how much City money - if any - are you prepared to spend either directly or indirectly in an effort to see the proposed hotel development get off the ground?
I support any developments in the city that will have a positive impact on our community. Developments are driven by the private sector and the city’s role is to support and facilitate but I don’t believe we are a funding partner. There are economic incentives to attract and retain developments/companies that bring things like economic activity and long-term job creation and growth, and I support this.
During my previous time on council, I was part of implementing a five-year phased in tax incentive for new businesses, I believe initiatives like or similar ones is what should be used by the city in these instances.
5. Are you in favour of more or less funding by the way of levies? Or do you favour finding more funding by the way of tax increases? Can you explain your reasoning?
I favour increasing revenues and controlling expenses first before considering tax increases or levies. Levies are supposed to be targeted for a specific purpose or project. For example, the City of Moose Jaw portion of the new Hospital was a levy, this then turned into an infrastructure levy. A levy is a revenue stream that should be short-term but often once it is in it doesn’t go away. A tax increase is a broad way of funding across all citizens and doesn’t specify one initiative or another.
Overall, I think we should be focusing on increasing revenues to avoid either a levy or a tax increase to our citizens, sometimes these are necessary, but this should be done once council and administration have sharpened their own pencils with expenses.
6. In your own words what is the most important infrastructure projection that needs to be completed. Where or how would you locate funding for this project?
Investing in core infrastructure like roads, sidewalks, water mains and recreational infrastructure like parks, ball diamonds, hockey rinks, swimming pool, soccer and football fields etc. needs to be done. This is a large part of our core business and services to our residents.
Over the next five years the city is forecasting to spend $118M on our infrastructure yet revenues are only $59M, so there is a large gap here in terms of how we are going to get there. I want to review how we deliver projects, what is the carry over each year of unspent monies as it seems we are not spending the budget we have each fiscal year.
We need to do a core review of what projects we are capable of and what can be accomplished then develop a plan to deliver it. Are there other ways of delivering more projects? Are there things that we shouldn’t be doing as a city?
I think the central focus in anything we do as a city needs to be how do we provide better services to our citizens.
We also need to ensure we as a city continue to lobby for funding programs from the provincial and federal governments that don’t encumber us to certain interests from other levels of government. We need funding dollars to invest in what we as a city knows is important not a special pet project from another level of government.
7. Affordability is a major concern for many residents. Are you prepared - yes or no - to strive to make Moose Jaw more affordable? Can you briefly explain how you would accomplish this?
The cost of everything is going up, largely this is not a municipal issue but one that we can’t be piling onto of. I believe ensuring we are keeping the cost of services low is essential. This is everything from taxation generally to cost to go for a swim at the pool.
For me it goes back to increasing long-term revenues for the city creating the strongest business climate to attract investment and development.