“Together we’re building Red Deer’s future.”
 
That message from Mayor Cindy Jefferies resonated throughout the room as 260+ business and community leaders gathered at the Red Deer Resort & Casino for the Mayor’s annual State of the City address.
 
Hosted in partnership with BILD Central Alberta, and the Red Deer Construction Association, the event reflected the strength of collaboration across the local business community. Together our organizations represent nearly 1,400 businesses and employers across Central Alberta.
 
Mayor Jefferies opened by recognizing the importance of partnerships like the one demonstrated by the three host organizations, noting that Red Deer’s progress relies on strong collaboration between the business community, local government, and community organizations.
 
Stability, Transparency, and the Realities of Municipal Finance
A key theme of the Mayor’s address was Council’s commitment to transparency and stability in the face of challenging fiscal realities. While the Chamber had encouraged Council to explore options that could lower the municipal tax increase, Mayor Jefferies spoke candidly about the balance required between tax restraint and maintaining the services and infrastructure that support a growing city.
 
Property taxes, she emphasized, remain the backbone of how municipalities fund infrastructure, and that infrastructure is essential to economic growth, business investment, and quality of life. Compounding the challenge is the signal from the provincial government that education property taxes will increase, which could translate to roughly a 2% increase on property tax bills in Red Deer.
 
Mayor Jefferies also highlighted a structural issue long recognized by local leaders: Red Deer functions as a hub city for Central Alberta, serving a much larger regional population, yet does not receive additional provincial funding in recognition of that role.
 
Downtown: Change, Complexity, and Opportunity
Downtown Red Deer is experiencing a period of significant transition.
With the Downtown Business Association dissolving itself and the members of the Business Improvement Area voting on the disestablishment of the BIA next week, the Mayor noted that the city now has an opportunity to rethink how the downtown evolves moving forward. Encouraging additional residential development in the downtown core was highlighted as one potential pathway to increasing vibrancy and bringing more activity into the area.
 
While issues such as homelessness remain part of the conversation - including the ongoing discussions surrounding Project Nexus - the Mayor emphasized that downtown also presents many opportunities, particularly through arts, culture, and new investment.
 
Strategic Decisions for the Future
Mayor Jefferies also spoke about Council’s recent decision regarding the future structure of Red Deer’s electric utility. Following what she has said was three years of research and analysis, the City has chosen to move forward with a Municipal Controlled Corporation (MCC) model rather than divestiture. She noted that this approach will involve a number of operational disentanglements in the days and months ahead, while still leaving the door open to potential partnerships with private sector companies.
 
The Mayor also expressed excitement about the formation of Red Deer DRIVE, the city’s new arms-length economic development organization that will focus on strengthening Red Deer’s competitiveness and economic growth.
 
Advocacy Priorities for the Region
Looking ahead, the City of Red Deer is advancing several key advocacy priorities with other orders of government, including:

• Reclassifying Westerner Park from a regional agricultural society to a category more aligned with major event organizations like the Calgary Stampede
• Working with the federal government on retaining the HAF2 grant funds, while continuing to advocate for permanent supportive housing solutions
• Advancing critical water and wastewater infrastructure funding needed to support regional growth