About this project

The Infrastructure Funding Initiative (formerly the Off-Site Levy Update) is a collaborative decision-making process with City administration and the Off-Site Levy Advisory Committee (OSL-AC). In early 2025, an Off-site Levy Advisory Committee was established (see Terms of Reference). This committee represents key stakeholders who would be responsible for paying off-site levies (engaging these affected groups in Bylaw development is a stipulation of the Municipal Government Act).

PROJECT PURPOSE:

To develop a decision-making framework (infrastructure delivery philosophy) for growth-related infrastructure that will guide financing and funding of growth related infrastructure in the future.

SCOPE OF PROJECT:

The scope of this project is to discuss how water, sewer, storm, and road infrastructure should be funded. A municipality may also use off-site levies for the construction of community recreation facilities, fire halls, police stations, and libraries, however; the City of Medicine Hat currently funds these facilities through general taxation.

• The initiative consists of four phases with the goal of modernizing how Medicine Hat plans for and funds off-site water, sewer, storm, and road infrastructure tied to growth.
• This project was repositioned as an Infrastructure Funding Initiative to better reflect the broader objectives and to acknowledge that multiple funding tools may be considered to deliver essential infrastructure required for growth. The project will produce an Infrastructure Delivery Philosophy that will recommend a funding approach, which may include a revised Off-site Levy Bylaw or alternative tools.
• Until this project is complete, the current rates are to remain in effect until Council approves a new approach to off-site infrastructure funding.

Why we're doing this

In mid-2024 an Off-site Levy Bylaw update (mostly inflationary) was completed by Planning and Development Services for City Council consideration. Council opted to hold a non-statutory Public Hearing on September 3, 2024, to hear from the Public and affected stakeholders.

Stakeholders' feedback indicated that their questions had not been fully answered regarding the preparation methodology, project costs, and benefiting areas. They requested a deeper review before a new bylaw was proposed.

As part of the submissions to the non-statutory Public Hearing, the Chamber of Commerce submitted a letter requesting an Advisory Committee (or a similar group) be established to address outstanding questions and revisit the methodology used to prepare the draft Off-site Levy Bylaw.

In September 2024, a commitment was made to Stakeholders that a recommendation for funding off-site infrastructure would not be presented to Council for consideration until all questions were answered, regardless of the effort necessary to determine those answers.

Project goals

PRIMARY GOAL:

To demonstrate that stakeholder questions have been answered, that feedback has been documented and acknowledged, and that a general consensus has been achieved on the Infrastructure Delivery Philosophy and Draft Bylaw.

SUPPORTING GOALS:

Optimize existing servicing capacity. This will reduce near-term capital spending and support long-term financial sustainability.

Align funding with actual growth trends and predictions. This will ensure infrastructure investment matches realistic demand.

Provide clarity and predictability. This will provide the development community with certainty about where growth is anticipated and the how costs are allocated.

Project phases

There are four phases to this project.

Phase 1 - INFRASTRUCTURE DELIVERY PHILOSOPHY

Develop an infrastructure delivery philosophy for growth-related infrastructure that will guide financing and funding of infrastructure in the future.

Phase 2 - DEVELOP INFRASTRUCTURE FUNDING APPROACH

Identify the infrastructure to be included in the infrastructure funding program, define the associated approach and methodology, and engage/educate on the program and its alignment with the infrastructure delivery philosophy.

Phase 3 - DRAFT INFRASTRUCTURE FUNDING BYLAW

Ensure alignment and consider gathered feedback to create an infrastructure funding program that is clear, transparent and logic-based, and will inform the final infrastructure funding bylaw.

Phase 4 - INFRASTRUCTURE FUNDING BYLAW IMPLEMENTATION

Implementation of the Bylaw

Who's involved?

> See more details about who's involved

What we've heard so far

Key themes from meetings and workshops to date:

• Transparency & Methodology - requests for a clearer explanation of how projects are selected, costed, and allocated to benefitting areas.
• Financial Clarity - requests for a full accounting of past collections, project expenditures and outstanding obligations.
• Predictability of Rates - the industry wants stable, predictable levy rates tied to realistic growth assumptions.

Advisory Committee influence in this project

The Off-site Levy Advisory Committee (OSL-AC) was formed in response to stakeholder requests and are key to reviewing the methodology, project lists, staging, benefitting areas and shaping the overall recommendations before anything is presented to Council.

City Administration committed to not presenting a recommendation to Council until all stakeholder questions are answered and industry support is secured.

Off-site Levies (OSLs) are one potential mechanism for funding growth-related infrastructure. If OSLs are selected as part of the City's funding strategy, the Municipal Government Act (MGA) requires the City to provide the following:

• any information or data the municipality relied upon;
• the calculations that were performed to determine the amount of the levy;
• any assumptions the municipality made in calculating the levy, including, without limitation, any information, data or assumptions the municipality used in models to complete calculations.

How to get involved

1) Review the Project Status Report: Key Assumptions / Strategy Update	2) Post a question about the report. All submitted questions will be compiled and the project team will prepare responses for discussion at our next in-person meeting	3) Do a survey - Complete our 5-minute engagement experience survey. Your feedback will help us improve the advisory committee experience, including attendance during construction season. Survey closes March 22 (end of day).