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Do the homework; grow the pie
Letter to the Editor
Cranbrook’s municipal tax levy has risen substantially — over 25 points — over the past four years. At the same time, more than 80% of our assessed property base is residential, while light industry accounts for less than one per cent. Businesses pay nearly three times the residential rate.
We can’t control every cost facing the city. But we can grow the number and value of businesses and industries helping to pay the bill. That’s what I mean by grow the pie.
Cranbrook already has a strong commercial base and real economic-development work underway in aerospace, technology, logistics and new markets, including ConvergX and a Team Kootenay approach.
Now turn those connections into investment, jobs and tax base, and help the businesses already here grow.
Do the homework
Build on our strengths: Our airport, highways, College of the Rockies, regional hub status and Ktunaxa and Kootenay connections are real advantages. Pursue geopolitical priorities like critical minerals, value-added forestry, energy and transportation. Build on emerging aerospace, defence and technology opportunities.
Grow what we’ve already got: Talk regularly with the businesses, employers and stakeholders already here. What’s stopping expansion, investment or hiring? What would bring more people downtown and along the strip? What can the city fix, influence or help connect to a solution?
Connect the dots: Cranbrook has done a lot of good planning. The challenge is turning those plans into results. We have a Community Plan, Strategic Plan, Five-Year Financial Plan, and plans for housing, infrastructure, transportation and economic development. They all draw on the same limited pool of money, pipes, roads and people.
Housing, workforce, land, infrastructure, development costs and economic growth are not separate City files. They’re pieces of the same puzzle. Every major plan should go through three filters: COST – Can we afford it? Not just the first invoice. The long-term cost. What can partners pay? What does it mean for taxpayers and other priorities?
CAPACITY – Can we actually get it done? Staff, infrastructure, land and outside partners have to be part of the decision from the start.
LEVERAGE – What else does it accomplish? Can a water project also open land or improve a commercial street? Look for investments that solve more than one problem.
Then prioritize: Council should be able to tell Cranbrook: What are our five most important things for the next four years? What will they cost? How will we pay for them? Who will help? How will we know they worked?
HANDS: Make It Happen
Bring more horsepower to economic development: Create an Economic Diversification Council — business, industry, development, finance, technology, education and Ktunaxa expertise — beside the Economic Development Officer. Mandate: results, not another plan for the shelf.
Leave no stone unturned for outside money: Federal and provincial governments, Columbia Basin Trust, UBCM, PacifiCan and others fund water, sewer, housing, downtown, recreation, accessibility and technology. Have the priorities, costs and partners ready before the intake opens.
Help existing businesses grow: Safety, streets, lighting, public spaces, events, transit and accessibility are economic infrastructure. A healthy downtown and highway strip are not extras. If we are digging up a street for water or sewer, that is the time to finish the streetscape.
Remove unnecessary barriers: Keep the rules we need. Cut the friction we don’t. Permits, development and business processes should be clear and predictable.
Connect businesses to opportunity: Financing, grants, training, procurement, export, partnerships, purchasing pools and joint marketing.
The city does not have to run every program. It can make the introductions.
Make growth pay for growth – without stopping growth: New development should help pay for the pipes and roads it uses. When the total cost makes a good project unviable, we have defeated the purpose.
Turn connections into investment: ConvergX and Team Kootenay only matter if they become businesses, jobs and assessment here.
Building-permit values are up. Convert activity into a broader tax base, not just a busy year.
Don’t overlook the former Tembec lands: Nearly 100 acres of strategically located industrial land inside an already serviced area. That next chapter needs serious homework so it becomes lasting jobs and tax base – not another file that sits.
And measure it: A simple gGrow the pie scorecard:
- Is commercial and industrial assessment growing?
- Are existing businesses expanding?
- Are we adding housing and attracting private investment?
- How much outside funding did we bring home?
- How much new tax revenue came from growth rather than higher tax rates?
If we spend public money on economic development, Cranbrook should be able to see whether it is working.
HEART: Building a Better Future
Why Grow the Pie?
It’s about more good jobs.
It’s about giving young families a reason to stay or come home.
It’s about protecting the services and healthcare people depend on.
It’s about less pressure on homeowners to carry more of the tax load.
It’s about keeping Cranbrook a place where people can build a life, raise a family and grow old.
I want a Cranbrook where my grandchildren – and yours – choose to stay, put down roots, and thrive.
That takes a bigger pie. Not a heavier slice on the same households.
HEAD • HANDS • HEART
Do the homework. Make it happen. Remember why.
Robin Goldsbury,
Columbia Kootenay Southern Rockies EDA Liberal Party of Canada,
Cranbrook
