Copyright 2010.  All rights reserved. I have 4 general philosophies that I need your help in bringing to City Hall. 1. Re-instill the Concept of Value for Money 2. Community Pride 3. Enact Sensible Green Ideas 4. Development and Growth Video: Cam MacKay announces campaign for St.Albert City Council and outlines Tax Relief platform Re-instill the Concept of Value for Money: • Most people have no problem in paying for something if it is worth the money. However, in the past 8 years taxes have increased and spending has more than doubled. We can't say we are receiving double the service.  • Let's enact zero-based budgeting where budgetary increases are not guaranteed every year but have to be justified. • Tax increases should be kept at or below a maximum of 1.5% per year. • Make lower taxes and wise spending a priority.   Community Pride • A community is built by local residents and community groups. Community spirit is the difference between a place where you just live and a place that you call home. We need to foster the growth of community groups and empower the individual with authority and decision making power. • Develop a culture of volunteerism by promoting community groups within schools. • Provide blanket insurance to community groups looking at putting on local events. Fear of being sued should not prevent community groups from building St. Albert. • Individuals should have authority to set the direction of city assets and departments. Let's create community boards which influence decision making. • Let's set aside 1 day a year for volunteerism where the entire community comes together and picks a few modest projects to improve the city. • We have very intelligent people living here, let's make use of them. Individuals and community groups deserve more authority and more of a say in St. Albert. Enact Sensible Green Ideas • Many environmental ideas are high on environmentalism but also high on cost. We should implement cost effective, green ideas. • Permit the reuse of rain/gray water and work towards municipal government reuse. • Empower individuals to create their own solutions. Allow a tax exemption for "green" initiatives. A solar panel on a home should not raise the assessed value/property tax. • New developments should include environmental design. i.e. Manmade lakes to trap runoff and return the excess water back to our water table and reduce storm sewer costs. • Nature provides some services for free. Marshlands clean runoff, so let's protect riparian lands along the Sturgeon to save on water treatment and silt collection costs. Development and Growth • Protect current parks and greenspace • Let's create a "Neighbourhood Rights Bill" to ensure that local residents have some say over local development in existing neighbourhoods. • Let's allow residents to assist in the design of new neighbourhoods rather than relying exclusively on developers and city planners. • Let's continue the intelligent growth St. Albert used in the past like protecting natural areas in each development. i.e. Braeside Ravine. • Let's take some of the good ideas of Smart Growth and integrate them with St. Albert's past history of intelligent growth. Like placing corner stores closer to all residents. • The 80/20 split between residential and business tax base has been a goal without direction.  Let's provide the direction needed. • To attract business we need to address the high level of taxation and be realistic about the avenues for industry in St. Albert. • Let's zone light industrial lands close to major roadways and make them convenient for Edmontonians, since most new business is a combination of retail and light industrial use. • Let's use zoning to target specific industry and create economic clusters and build up a base of local expertise. • Make it easier for business to attract employees with better transit access, convenient roadways. • Zone areas conducive to stand alone buildings so small business has the opportunity to buy their own land, stay local and grow.