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Edmonton property owners can expect a 6.6 per cent tax increase for 2024.

City council passed next year’s operating and capital budgets Tuesday morning at city hall, landing on a tax increase different than expected. Council initially set a 4.96 per cent tax for 2024 last December during the four-year budget debate but that number rose to 7.09 last month in the draft prepared by city administration. Increasing Edmonton Police Services (EPS) funding and police salary settlements make up the majority of the difference between the initial and revised rate council landed on Tuesday — equivalent to a 1.6 per cent tax increase.

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The decrease from 7.09 per cent comes from the list of 15 operating budget amendments tabled by Mayor Amarjeet Sohi on Monday. This ultimately freed up approximately $8 million annually in savings, according to the mayor, while adding funds to expand bus service and remove homeless encampments. The operating budget pays for ongoing expenses including labour.

Councillors also passed Coun. Tim Cartmell’s motion to support work to expand the Edmonton Public Library’s Heritage Valley branch starting in 2025.

Speaking to reporters Tuesday afternoon, Sohi said council members who worked together on the 15-item list constrained spending while protecting core services.

“The majority of this budget adjustment focuses on public safety. We have heard that public safety is the Number 1 concern for many Edmontonians. We are confident these investments will make a meaningful impact,” he said.

“Edmontonians also rely on us to maintain and improve public services and we have an obligation to use their dollars responsibly.”

This budget, Sohi said, “attempts to course-correct years of underfunding public services,” and “I am pleased we were able to protect the services Edmontonians rely on while ensuring taxes remain affordable.”

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Sohi said the capital budget — which pays for infrastructure — is proceeding with more than 200 previously planned projects including the Valley Line West LRT expansion, freeway conversions, recreation centres, transit improvements and housing.

Councillors react

Nearly all city councillors supported these plans — only Coun. Karen Principe and Coun. Jennifer Rice opposed the capital budget. Rice was the lone councillor to vote against the operating budget.

Ward sipiwiyiniwak Coun. Sarah Hamilton said while she thinks council preferred a lower tax rate, these changes are “sound and reasonable, and importantly, defensible.”

“I’m glad to see where reductions have been made and applied to the budget and that, where there are increases, it’s getting back to the values of core services and impacts people will see in their neighourhoods such as transit growth and snow clearing.”

Ward O-day’min Coun. Anne Stevenson said financial pressures, growth in the city, and eroding service levels mean council can’t punt spending down the road any longer.

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“(This) leaves us at a bit of a crossroads,” Stevenson said, adding she’s starting to see that “needed refocus” on repairing and maintaining existing city facilities rather than adding new ones.

Stevenson also said the more than $2 million increase for clearing homeless encampments “will allow us to focus on safety and minimizing risk, and addressing the clean-up that is needed.”

The 6.6 per cent figure, however, could change before the final tax rate is finalized early next year.

Some council members are already signalling intentions to make further adjustments next spring before the final mill rate is calculated, which is unusual and which could adjust the tax rate as a result. Council has been awaiting since last December the results of a cost-saving exercise led by city administration to find $60 million in savings over four years and free up $240 million council can reallocate to other areas.

Rice, who said she is glad council agreed to increase police funding, voted against both budgets and said the line between “nice-to-haves” and core services could be clearer. Rice said she didn’t want to give Edmontonians false hope the tax rate could be lowered in the spring.

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@laurby

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