There was some smoke, but not much in the way of fire.
I took in the Mayor’s Town Update last Thursday evening, interested to hear what Tanya Thorn had to say about growth, taxes, water, public services and more. I was also curious to see what type of mood the crowd would be in, particularly given this is an election year.
When I arrived at the Viking Rentals Centre, there was a gentleman standing in the doorway handing out photocopies of a Facebook post that took issue with the salary paid to the Town of Okotoks’ chief administrative officer. It sure didn’t take long to run into my first disgruntled taxpayer.
Soon after I entered the room, a woman handed me another piece of paper, this one with the title: ‘Do you know how your property tax increases are being spent?’ Apparently, five per cent of those increases are being spent on the Town’s ‘woke, progressive agenda.’ That would make disgruntled taxpayer No. 2.
The annual update was also being held the same week that assessment notices, which carried an average 14 per cent increase, began arriving in mailboxes, and even though a substantial jump in equity is good news for homeowners and doesn't necessarily translate into a big tax hike, it tends to get people excited nonetheless.
Add it all up and I figured we would be in for some fireworks once Thorn was done with her PowerPoint and had opened the floor to questions, but the rockets and Roman candles never materialized.
The woman worried about the woke agenda did pose a rather long-winded question, and there were queries about the costly railway fence and lost revenue from the elimination of dog licences, but none of them stirred the crowd to any extent.
In fact, the biggest applause of the evening was not for someone banging the drum on the resident deer population or snow not being promptly removed from roads (I don't believe either topic was even broached) but rather came after one resident thanked the mayor and councillors for their public service.
There were inquiries about transit shortcomings, speeding vehicles, crosswalk safety, water quality and more, but if there was widespread unrest on these topics or others, the crowd certainly didn’t make it known.
I didn’t even hear any audible groans when Thorn told those assembled that affordability is top of mind for council and administration, which is the same council and administration that has brought you back-to-back property tax increases that have outstripped the rate of inflation.
So, does that mean all is well when it comes to the Good Ship Okotoks? Are ratepayers largely satisfied, save for a pet issue here or there?
It’s difficult to draw too many conclusions from a gathering of about 150, but the ‘I’ve had enough’ meter wasn't as high as I thought it might be. Maybe the folks who take time out of their day to attend aren’t the same ones who snipe with regularity on social media or perhaps it’s a case of people being more polite in person than they are online.
Whatever it is, the smoke never turned into fire.
