The average annual rise in municipal property taxes could now be around four per cent after several recommendations came forward at city budget deliberations Tuesday following some initial friction between members of the economic standing policy committee.
Councillor John Middleton-Hope requested an apology from fellow councillor Belinda Crowson for comments she made during Monday’s session, but he didn’t specify what comments he was referring to.
“When councillors call others names in public it is inappropriate, so I call on councillor Crowson to offer an apology,” said Middleton-Hope.
“If I said something that one of my colleagues took offense to, I apologize,” Crowson said in response. “Certainly, I don’t mean to be offensive in my discussions.”
The committee then turning to crime prevention and outreach, recommending six items be added to the draft budget, including the crime prevention through environmental design grant which helps cover businesses and landowners’ costs for crime prevention improvements.
Transitioning the Lethbridge Outreach, Downtown Safety Education and Clean Sweep programs, as well as the Diversion Outreach Team from one-time funding to ongoing funding is also included in the recommendations.
The SPC also amended the clean sweep funding, recommending the contract pay workers minimum wage or higher.
In total, the six items add roughly 0.16 per cent annually to property taxes.
Further taxation funding was also recommended for the Reconciliation Lethbridge Advisory Committee, $50,000 in each of 2024, 2025 and 2026.
The SPC also recommends extending one-term positions within city communications to a permanent full-time position.
The original request was for three expiring positions to be made permanent.
Two-thirds of the position would be funded by tax dollars.
Deliberations are continuing all week, with the final draft budget to then be sent to council for final approval.