Greg's Public Awareness Blog

04/24/2026

Well - it is a crappy weather day today - so why not repost some of the more interesting ( and exact) comments about our illustrious city budget?

Kirby Schafer does an excellent job of analyzing the happenings at City Hall. I believe he was a City employee for many years and has inside knowledge of how the civic machine works and the things regular citizens never hear about.

Here is his post - I think it is a good one.

CITY COUNCIL MEETING - TAX INCREASES
I would just like to start by saying this was one of the best council meetings I have seen in a long time. The comments from Councillor C***s and especially Councillor Young were extremely honest and direct. Looking at the vote to accept a 4.9% tax increase I see there is a divide as to what the tax rate should be set at. I would have like to have heard from the Councillors that voted no as to what they feel the rate should be set at and thoughts how this could be achieved. As stated by Councillor Young, efficiencies need to be found because we can't just simply dip into reserves to pay for any reduction in taxes. That being said, it was also stated that services may need to be cut if cost savings and efficiencies are not found. I would like a bit better explanation of this as service cuts is a vary vague description. Residents need to be reassured that essential services will not be cut. I am certain there are services that are being offered today that could be cut with minimal impact on residents. Basically its no different than a personal budget where we need to find things to cut from our own budgets as at this point in time we just can't afford to spend on these items in order to keep "our head above water". Sorry, I am sure there is maybe a more professional way of saying that but I think it still gets my point across. (If you watched the council meeting last night you will know what I am getting at).
Now, when Finance was asked as to what has driven up our costs above inflation, which is currently around 2.4%, it was stated WAGES INCREASES. So my question is, why are we offering wage increases above inflation? Why are we not putting a hiring freeze on and taking back the monies from the 29 vacant positions that have budget dollars allocated?
I also heard from Finance that budget amendments throughout the year added 2.11% of the increase. That resonated with me and I hope it also raised a "red flag" with council and this gets addressed by the Budget Review Committee. Glad to see that council is not "feeling comfortable" with budget amendments as per the presentation in an earlier council meeting.
I look forward to hearing from Council on the progress of this Budget Review Committee.
I have to admit I am a little more hopeful that budgets and tax rates will be examined more thoroughly in the near future. I would also like to note that I am still not happy that I now have to pay 4.9% instead of 6.1% as Councillor Reynish said I should feel. Yes, you lowered the rate. Yes you put a few dollars back into my pocket. But I never heard you say "this is a start in the right direction" or we will be working to find efficiencies to lower this rate even more in the future. What I heard was we did better than the last council by voting in this lower rate. Congrats but it wasn't a high bar to hit to achieve that.

and now a reply from Nicole Frey................

Nicole Frey
We, whistleblowers, gave council information and we've subsequently provided proof that the city does not only not have a policy to prevent Administration from spending the salaries savings we should be achieving based on vacant positions on other things but that it is consistently going over budget despite an average of 60 vacancies at any time throughout the year. Those 60 vacancies by, by my math, should have resulted in more than 6 million in savings to taxpayers which is essentially the entire property tax increase. Notably the CFO has reported varying budget amounts and apparently has refusing to answer to those or maybe council is just refusing to ask the questions.

(Greg - this is very interesting! What do YOU think?)

04/24/2026

Here is a good analysis that City Hall will hate. Or will they just shrug their shoulders and carry on ignoring the concerns of the taxpayers?
I have been against the constant outsourcing of duties to consultants. It is my opinion that this is a very expensive way to avoid responsibility.
Period. If they can't do the job, fire them and hire the consultant.

Here is an interesting analysis from Stephen Campbell that I will repost because I agree with many, if not all, the comments. I haven't fact checked it, so these are Stephen's words....... I think they are worth consideration.

Stephen Campbell For Medicine Hat posted to Medicine Hat Conversations
·
Monday Council Meeting April 20th – Let’s Talk Reality
We started with the usual announcements, including talk of a potential replacement shelter. That’s one I’ll be watching closely—but for now, let’s get into the big stuff.
💰 Taxes – What We Were Told vs What Actually Happened
Council passed a 4.9% tax increase.
That’s about $6 million from taxpayers… plus $1.1 million pulled from our reserves.
We were told this was needed to operate the city.
A couple councillors spoke up:
* Councillor C***s said he supported this—and even supported going to 6.1%.
* Councillor Young made a key point that nobody seems to be talking about the tax, he thought there would be more discussion. ( they did run on that I believe). And dipping into reserves doesn’t fix the underlying problem.
He’s right—normally, but that argument stopped with the financial report!
So, here’s where things stop making sense.
📊 The Part Nobody’s Talking About
Nearing the end of the meeting, we got the financial report/results.
And guess what?
👉 The city put $10.5 million INTO reserves.
Let that sink in.
We:
* Taxed you $6 million
* Took $1.1 million out of our reserves
* Then turned around and put $10.5 million BACK into our reserves
And administration said they don’t expect major changes this year. (So I predict 16M surplus this year)
Only one question from the floor, councillor C***s asked simply- so we are putting 10.5 million into reserves- the answer was yes…
—Is this the moment when council realized they were duped—
So the obvious question is:
Why are we taxing people at all if we’re already generating a surplus?
Would you (the citizens) rather:
* Put $10.5M into reserves, or
* Put $3–4M into reserves and NOT tax residents $6M-7M
That’s the real debate—and it didn’t happen.
❌ This Is NOT a “Win”
I heard this framed by councillor Reynish as - A win for Medicine Hat by putting a few bucks back in the citizens pockets.
No.
This is taking:
* $6 million from residents
* $1.1 million from reserves
That’s not a win. That’s a tax. Plain and simple.
And the reasons???
* Inflation
* Wages
* In-house costs
here’s an issue:
We’re told in-house work is too expensive and needs to be contracted out… yet costs keep climbing. This is something that has bothered me, as historically, in-house work is always cheaper. So what are we contracting out that is cheaper, besides consultants?
At some point, that argument falls apart. If I’m wrong please explain this to me.
⚠️ Tax Penalty Bylaw – This One Matters
Councillor Hellman brought forward a motion to increase tax penalties:
* From 15% → 15.5% → 16%
It failed badly—he was the only one who supported it.
here’s an issue:
* This would apply before the next budget is even approved
* It’s justified by comparing us to other cities (our “competitors” apparently)
But as councillor Clugston pointed out:
👉 These are secured debts
👉 Our actual cost is around 2–3%
So why are we charging credit card-level interest (15–16%) on something we’re guaranteed to collect?
⸻
🚨 Here’s Where It Gets Worse and we don’t talk about!
If you fall behind on utilities, the city will:
➡️ Add that debt to your property taxes
➡️ Then charge 15%+ penalties on your utilities also
So now:
* You’re behind
* Your debt grows
* And you’re paying massive interest on something secured against your home
And yes—this debt can and does follow the property. Sell your home to get out of debt? That’s your option other than struggling with the 15% interest.
“Big money!” On the backs of people struggling to make ends meet!
I hope this issue is brought forward for review and for needed changes. This is obviously not part of the regular budget so it can be easily changed.
⸻
🔍 Bottom Line
There’s a bigger question here:
Are we managing money for residents—or are we just collecting more because we can?
Because right now, it looks like:
* We’re generating surpluses
* Building reserves
* And still taxing people millions more
That’s not good enough.
Stephen

04/24/2026

This is from Warren Pister - former Council candidate, former RCMP, professional driver.
He has an insight into the city from many different angles that allow him to analyze and articulate his point of view. I am in full agreement of his comments.

Warren Pister:
Most people live within their means. We work, we budget, and we make due with what we have. When costs rise, we adjust—because we have no choice.
Municipal government should be no different.
Yet the pattern we often see is the opposite: spending grows, and the solution is to ask taxpayers to cover the gap. That raises a fair question—are these increases truly necessary, or is there room to operate more efficiently?
This isn’t about criticizing frontline city employees. They’re the ones delivering the services people rely on every day, and cutting there risks real impacts to the public. The more reasonable place to look is structural—management layers, administrative overlap, and how resources are allocated.
Are there redundancies in middle and upper management? Are there roles or departments where responsibilities could be consolidated without affecting service delivery? These are not unreasonable questions—they’re exactly the kind of questions responsible governance requires.
There are also practical opportunities worth examining. For example, if the city maintains internal divisions to handle functions that could be competitively outsourced—such as selling city-owned properties—does that approach actually deliver better value? Or are we carrying ongoing costs (salaries, benefits, office space) where a results-based model could be more efficient?
Similarly, are we making full use of the space we already pay for? If there are underused offices or leased spaces elsewhere, could consolidation reduce overhead?
None of this is about cutting for the sake of cutting. It’s about running a municipality the way residents are forced to run their own households—with discipline, accountability, and a clear understanding of priorities.
If council made operational efficiency and transparency a standing, visible priority—backed by real data, not assumptions—we might start to see a shift: slower tax increases, better use of resources, and stronger public trust.
At the very least, these are conversations worth having openly, with facts on the table.

04/24/2026

Hey - City Hall should think about this while they p**s away our money on red bricks, narrow streets and useless bumpouts. And then there is this solar farm that will be way over budget as stated.

Stop pricing things in dollars. Start pricing them in hours of your life. It changes every purchase decision you make.

Here's how it works.

If you make $30 an hour you take home about $22.50 after taxes. That's your real hourly rate. The number that actually matters when you're deciding whether something is worth buying.

Now reprice everything you own or want to buy.

That $300 night out isn't $300. It's 13.3 hours of your life. Almost two full work days.

That $60,000 truck isn't $60,000. It's 2,667 hours of your time. 333 work days. More than a full year of your life traded for a vehicle that starts depreciating the moment you drive it off the lot.

That $200 pair of shoes isn't $200. It's nearly 9 hours of your life.

This reframe doesn't mean never spend money on anything enjoyable. It means making the trade consciously instead of on autopilot.

Most people swipe a card and feel nothing because the number on the screen is abstract. But everyone understands time.

Everyone knows what two days of work feels like. Everyone knows what a full year of their life is worth.

When you start translating dollars into hours the impulse purchases slow down. The big ticket decisions get more scrutiny.

And the things you do choose to spend on feel more intentional because you've actually calculated the cost in the currency that matters most.

You can always make more money.

You cannot make more time.

04/24/2026

I an very disgusted with City Hall administration. They seem to think it's business as usual. They just added a PR campaign and will keep spending. No cutbacks or wage freeze. No cancelation of frivolous projects.
I agree with Warren Pister, Stephen Campbell and others - we need a Provincial audit
Unbiased and independent. Who or what is swallowing our money? Where is the black hole or holes?
Here is a post from Stephen Campbell that I agree with.
What do you think?

Stephen Campbell For Medicine Hat
April 18 at 6:12 AM
·
Monday night, Council is walking in ready to pass a 4.9% tax increase.
Let’s stop pretending that’s “reasonable.”
That still means we are digging into our savings just to keep up.
And here’s the part no one seems to want to say out loud:
👉 The City recommended 6.1% — about $7.5 million more from taxpayers.
So the real question is simple:
Where did council find even ONE dollar in savings before asking you for more?
Because I’ve looked.
* No motions to cut spending
* No direction to administration to find efficiencies
* No plan to reduce costs
Nothing.
Just blame the provincial government!??
Every single one of them (except one perhaps) ran on finding savings.
Now that they’re elected?
👉 It’s just status quo spending and great photo ops
⸻
And while we’re on the heels of a tax increase…
What are they working on in the - admin and legislative review and government relations/council employee committee meeting- ?
Still Trying to separate council from committee responsibilities —
which is just a nice way of saying:
👉 Push the work onto someone else.
Councillor Young actually got this right:
Council IS the committee. That IS the job.
You don’t split it up — you take responsibility for it.
⸻
Then it gets worse.
There’s still talk of creating a “government relations” position pushed by our Mayor.
Let’s be clear about what that means:
👉 Another taxpayer-funded salary (6figure salary)
👉 To do what council — and especially the mayor — are already elected to do
Talking to MLAs, MPs, and the province isn’t extra work.
That IS the job.
We don’t need another position to go for steak dinners and “build relationships.” The people you want to hire are already imbedded in your committees and boards.
We need leadership that actually does the work.
⸻
And the election issues?
You can’t blame machines when the numbers look like this:
* 18 voting stations → cut to 10 ( vote anywhere you want)
* ~199 staff → increased to 399
* 11 people per station → jumped to 40 per station
And it still took how long?
That’s not a technology problem.
👉 That’s a management problem.
And here we are heading into Monday:
Council is asking you for millions more…
While:
* Spending hasn’t been meaningfully challenged
* New positions are being considered
* And core responsibilities are possibly going to be shuffled around
No accountability. No cost control. No change.Great photo ops.
⸻
So I’ll ask it plainly:
👉 Why should taxpayers pay more when council hasn’t shown they can manage what they already have?
Because right now, this isn’t leadership.
It’s just more of the same.

04/22/2026

I like this one.

🤣😁

04/20/2026

None - no one can move.

Your Uber driver turns up... what's your next move?

04/20/2026

Yes

The school system had 13 years with your kids.

They taught them to calculate the area of a triangle.

They taught them to analyze 19th century poetry. They taught them the periodic table of elements.

Nobody taught them what happens when you carry a credit card balance for 12 months.

Nobody taught them the difference between a Roth and a traditional IRA.

Nobody walked them through how a mortgage works, what term life insurance is, or why their credit score will follow them into every major financial decision they make for the rest of their lives.

I didn’t learn what compound interest was until college. Didn’t hear the words “Roth IRA” until I was sitting in a finance class wondering why nobody had mentioned this sooner.

I was 20 years old before I understood that money could grow on its own if you just gave it time and left it alone.

This isn’t a knock on teachers. Teachers work incredibly hard with what they’re given.

It’s a knock on a system that decided these subjects weren’t essential enough to make the cut.

I have four kids. They will know how compound interest works before they graduate middle school.

They will understand what a tax bracket actually means.

They will know how to read a pay stub, build an emergency fund, and think about money like an asset instead of something that just disappears every month.

Not because school taught them.

Because I will.

If you’re a parent, that responsibility falls on you too.

The system isn’t going to fix this anytime soon.

04/20/2026

Just a reminder that there is a City Council meeting tonight at 6:30pm. Please attend or watch on Medicinehat.ca or YouTube. It is a big one tonight.

Greg

04/20/2026

I can identify!