Coaldale Project Watch

Taxpayers of Coaldale, wake up! 8,965 people cannot shoulder the champagne tastes of our Administrator, Kalen Hastings, our Mayor, Kim Craig, and elected council members. The mayor and council seem to have forgotten they are appointed by the voters to represent the voters. We want amenities but they should be well planned and discussed, not pushed through so someone can build their resume to move on to bigger things.

Our town’s 2019-2021 capital budget was approved by town council at $52.8 million dollars and they keep adding projects. We know the government is doing budget cuts and so our tax rates will definitely be raised to pay for these projects. It will be more than the $ 120 levy they tested us with this tax year. Can you afford a 30 per cent tax increase? They have not discussed how to finance all these projects with us, the tax payers.

They need to put their projects such as the town office, the recreational center and the swimming pool on hold and reconsider better options such as a combined facility rather than attaching it to a school, that is not centrally based to the town or the direction of growth. The school poses a huge safety risk and expense for the 85 per cent of the students that will have to travel across the highway and rail tracks. There were better choices that were overlooked.

The town head lined in the Coaldale Connection recently “engagement sessions for joint use high school/recreation facility and pool to start this fall”. They also announced along with the Palliser School Division that they had chosen the FWBA architects to design the project. How can they design a project that has no community input? There should be a plebiscite on multi-million dollar projects!

Please join Coaldale Project Watch for more information and help get the spending under control. We meet every Wednesday from 7 to 8:30 pm at the Mc Donald’s or email coaldaleprojectwatch@mail.com

Concerned Tax Payer,

RICHARD BATES

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