Budget adjustment report recommends city further hike 2024 property tax increase by 2.1% to 8.7%
City of Edmonton administration is recommending in a report released Thursday that property taxes rise by 8.7 per cent for 2024, an increase of 2.1 per cent from the 6.6 per cent hike city council approved in December.
The city's spring operating budget adjustment report says the further increase is needed because of the increasing costs of material and labour, says the city's head of finance.
"We now have a much better sense of how much higher some of our costs will be moving forward," Stacey Padbury, the city's chief financial officer and deputy city manager of financial and corporate services, told media on Thursday.
"We can’t continue to absorb the financial impacts we’re facing this year and beyond without adjusting taxes or service levels, and it may take both strategies to ensure our long-term financial sustainability."
In December, city council approved tax increases for the remaining three years of this budget: 6.6 per cent in 2024, 5.3 per cent in 2025 and 4.7 per cent in 2026.
City staff now say just to maintain services such as transit, snow clearing and recreation at their current price points, taxes need to rise by an additional 2.1 per cent this year.
For a home worth $400,000, it means the owner would about $260 more in taxes in 2024 than they did last year.
Recent labour settlements — with the police and with the Civil Service Union — are leaving a mark on budgetary demands, too, as is spending by city council on urgent issues such as housing, climate change, homelessness and transit safety. Substantially reduced municipal funding from the province has an impact as well.
The city has been streamlining the budget in various ways since 2015, saving $2 billion in that time. Padbury says there's no fat left to trim.
"Either there’s tax increases to pay for the services that continue to get provided, or there needs to be a discussion about which services Edmontonians no longer wish to pay for," she said.
This likely isn't the end of tax increases either. The city has dipped further into its reserve to pay off its $40 million deficit from last year. That account is now well below its minimum required balance.
Padbury says the legally mandated strategy to replenish that reserve will add one more per cent in property taxes for three years.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Trump returns to his campaign facing a warning of jail time if he violates a trial gag order
Donald Trump on Wednesday will use a one-day break from his hush money trial to rally voters in the battleground states of Wisconsin and Michigan, a day after he was held in contempt of court and threatened with jail time for violating a gag order.
Ontario woman surprised after 20-year-old fines suddenly tank credit score
An Ontario woman says that she was shocked when fines from 20 years ago suddenly tanked her credit score last week, but the situation may not be as unusual as it seems, according to at least one debt expert.
Anger can harm your blood vessel function, study shows
Stress and anger can have a negative impact on cardiovascular health, studies have shown. New research points to just how the mechanism may work.
Freeland leaves capital gains tax change out of coming budget implementation bill, here's why
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland will be tabling yet another omnibus bill to pass a sweeping range of measures promised in her April 16 federal budget, though left out of the legislation will be the government's proposed capital gains tax change.
Swarm of bees delays Arizona Diamondbacks vs. Los Angeles game in Arizona. An 'MVP' beekeeper came to the rescue
Major League Baseball fans had an unexpected buzz on Tuesday after a swarm of bees delayed the Arizona Diamondbacks vs. Los Angeles Dodgers game for around two hours.
Newfoundland fisherman says police broke his leg during protest that delayed budget
Richard Martin is spending this year's fishing season on land after he says a Royal Newfoundland Constabulary officer broke his left leg in three places during a protest last month that shut down the provincial legislature.
A 98-year-old in Ukraine walked miles to safety from Russians, with slippers and a cane
A 98-year-old woman in Ukraine who escaped Russian-occupied territory by walking almost 10 kilometres (six miles) alone, wearing a pair of slippers and supported by a cane has been reunited with her family days after they were separated while fleeing to safety.
It's opening day for the $34B Trans Mountain oil pipeline expansion
Wednesday marks the official start date of the long-awaited $34-billion Trans Mountain oil pipeline expansion project.
Will an 'out of sight, out of mind' cellphone policy make a difference in Ontario schools?
Ontario’s cellphone ban in schools has been met with mixed reaction, with some teachers concerned about constant policing of kids and experts applauding the change as necessary for student learning.