Calgary city council has approved a multi-million dollar funding boost for maintenance and upgrades at several city facilities, but the timing of the move has drawn the ire of some on council.
The motion, from Mayor Jyoti Gondek, proposed to use $20 million from the 2024 Enmax dividend surplus to support maintenance and upgrades of community spaces and amenities through a city facility management program.
“This dividend was not expected, it will not be repeated next year,” Gondek said at a press conference Wednesday. “So we are using it wisely now to fix the things that need fixing.”
Enmax delivered a $103-million dividend last year, a record high and $46 million more than the city expected.
The mayor’s office provided a list of eight projects that would benefit from the new funding, but noted the list does not contain all projects that are approved to receive repairs or maintenance.
Among those projects are an $8.5 million upgrade to the Prairie Winds Park wading pool, upgrades to Calgary Fire stations, safety upgrades at Queens Park Mausoleum and Bowness wading pool, recreation facility upgrades, and repairs to Shouldice Park after damage from last summer’s Bearspaw feeder main break.
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“The projects have already been identified, they have been on a priority list for some time,” Gondek said. “Now that the funds have been allocated, they will get to work on these projects right away.”
The mayor’s motion also earmarks an additional $2.85 million for the Federation of Calgary Communities, and a program to help fund community association and volunteer-driven placemaking projects across the city.
“It’s going to allow us to do more projects, bigger projects, more impactful projects with community,” said Adam Schwartz, community activator at Federation of Calgary Communities.
The program, called ActivateYYC, helps fund community projects aimed at increasing vibrancy and amenities in underused spaces.
According to Schwartz, the money will help boost the program’s fund from $60,000 to $400,000 annually over the next three years.
“It can be as simple as a gazebo, or a picnic table or a mural that pops up in these spaces to really turn them from space into place,” he said.
But a group of city councillors representing the Communities First party are raising concerns with the timing of the move, and accused the mayor of “electioneering,” ahead of the next municipal election in October.
During Tuesday’s debate, there was an attempt by that group of councillors to postpone the motion until November’s budget deliberations, but it was defeated.
“It didn’t need to be done in such an urgent fashion, it could’ve been done at budget time,” Ward 10 councillor and Communities First candidate Andre Chabot told Global News on Wednesday. “So that’s why we consider this to be very much aligned with electioneering.”
A press release from the party said the motion makes a funding decision outside the “rigour” of November’s budget process, and is less than 200 days away from the next municipal vote.
“You have an unpopular mayor trying to sprinkle public money around to garner some goodwill before the election,” Ward 13 Coun. and Communities First candidate Dan McLean said in the press release. “In concept, I’m not opposed to anything on Jyoti’s list, but November budget deliberations are where these decisions should be made.”
The mayor rebuked the accusations of electioneering on Wednesday, while noting the projects on the list are urgent and couldn’t wait another construction season.
“I don’t know why those councillors don’t understand that we need to make budget decisions outside of budget cycles on a regular basis,” the mayor said. “Many of those councillors who are opposed to what was brought forward approved a motion that was very similar last year, in fact, council approved it unanimously.”
Gondek’s motion was approved 8-5 with councillors Sonya Sharp, Sean Chu, Terry Wong, Chabot and McLean voting against.
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