Fawcett, Oleson clash over taxes, water rates

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 18/10/2022 (1219 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Elliott Oleson took aim at the outgoing city council’s record during a mayoral debate hosted by the Brandon Chamber of Commerce on Monday.

While the interaction between mayoral hopeful Oleson and his rival Jeff Fawcett was cordial, Oleson did accuse council of neglecting the city’s needs in favour of keeping taxes low.

“They decided they didn’t want to put aside for the future,” Oleson said. “They decided they didn’t want to deal with problems now. They would rather wait, and wait, and wait and then deal with them when they’re catastrophic.”

The chamber’s Brandon Municipal Election Mayoral Debate 2022 at the Keystone Centre Amphitheatre drew about 50 people to watch Fawcett and Oleson try to win over voters who will cast their ballots on Oct. 26.

On the tax issue, Oleson pointed to streets, roads, homelessness and what he described as an over-reliance on policing as areas that had suffered under current council.

“There would have to be tax increases,” Oleson said in response to debate moderator Kerry Auriat asking his intentions toward taxes if he were elected. “There’s no way that’s avoidable.”

On his part, Fawcett, who has served 12 years as a city councillor, acknowledged council has worked to keep taxes down but said it had also done important work.

“In the last number of years, we’ve had the largest infrastructure budget we’ve ever put out in this city, ever, not even close,” Fawcett said. “So we’re doing more work on streets and roads than we ever have.”

He added that council has also spent money on recreation too, and, while council needs to be responsible with its budget, tax increases may have to be considered to address rising city salaries.

When Auriat asked each candidate what their spending priorities would be, Fawcett pointed to staples like roads, water infrastructure and sidewalks.

Oleson agreed those are priorities, but said the city also needs to focus on “livability” for residents.

Building “up” versus building out was also an issue the candidates addressed, with Oleson arguing for the city to make better use of “neglected” or “abandoned” lots. Under city bylaws, Oleson said, such properties could be cleaned up by the city at the property owner’s expense, or annexed. Smaller contractors would be willing to work on infill projects, he said.

“I don’t believe that we just take someone’s property,” Fawcett responded, adding the city does work with property owners to encourage them to maintain their land.

Auriat stirred the debate pot by bringing up water rates.

The city is proposing to double water and wastewater utility rates between 2023 and 2026 to cover past utility deficits and pay for lift stations and upgrades to the municipal water treatment plant.

The City of Brandon wants to borrow up to $30 million to fund the upgrades with costs expected to be covered over time through development service charges, but also increased water and wastewater utility rates.

Oleson described the situation as poor planning on the part of the city. The city has stated that the lift stations are needed to support development in the southwest. But Oleson argued that the city is subsidizing a development — “nebulous growth” for which he hasn’t seen a projection of financial benefit to the city. It would be better to develop infill, he said.

“If the developers want to go south, the developers are free to go south,” he said. “They can buy their own lift stations.”

Fawcett said the water rate hike is “unfortunate” and he would push for a more regular review of water rates in the future. However, once the new water infrastructure is in place, water rates should be more moderate.

“And also, with the new infrastructure, it is going to be better and more reliable for the longer term, and that is very important to us,” Fawcett said.

One thing both Fawcett and Oleson agreed on — in response to a yes or no question posed by Auriat — they would open up more city meetings to the public.

That question was based on reporting in The Brandon Sun that found in recent years councillors and city staff had held more than 200 closed-door informal meetings for which no minutes were made.

» ihitchen@brandonsun.com