'Inherited an absolute mess': New spending could push Edmonton tax increase above 5%

Edmonton property taxes are going up. The only question is by how much.

The starting point was four percent, but as additions outpace subtractions at city hall, the final number could hit five percent or more.

"Oh, spending like a drunken sailor," Mayor Amarjeet Sohi said on a hot mic during budget talks Monday night.

He brushed it off when reporters gathered around him Tuesday.

"It wasn’t a reference to anyone or anything. I was just thinking aloud," he said.

He may have been referring to the fact that council has done more spending than saving during budget talks this week.

Since Monday morning, councillors have tabled a total of $384 million worth of cuts, but approved just $139 million worth.

Meanwhile, $413 million in new spending has been proposed, with council agreeing to fund more than $350 million of those projects.

"I think I proposed almost $400 million in cuts, so I’ve been working really hard to find efficiencies," Ward Papstew Coun. Michael Janz said.

He suggested chopping $126 million from the budget of the Lewis Farms Recreation Centre and a $50 million cut to Hawrelak Park renovations, but council rejected both.

"We inherited an absolute mess of a budget from our predecessors," Janz said.

But Coun. Aaron Paquette disagrees. He is one of those predecessors and believes spending now is a result of penny-pinching during the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We have been reducing the budget year after year after year, by an enormous amount, to the point where people have noticed that their services are reduced, and they’re annoyed by that, they’re not happy," Paquette explained.

He said cutting anything is tough because Edmonton is already running pretty lean.

"I can bring a motion forward right now that says let’s cut a billion dollars from the budget. Is it going to pass? No, because it’s not a good idea," he said.

Some business organizations took issue with council's budgeting Tuesday, including the decisions to spend $100 million on bike lanes, $35 million to demolish the Coliseum and $53 million for climate-change initiatives.

"Council was asked to consider refining priorities, allowing for flexibility, focusing on what cities do best, keeping taxes low and maximizing return on investment," Jeffrey Sunquist from The Edmonton Chamber of Commerce said in a press release.

"This budget does not contain a clear list of priorities for our city. The motions passed thus far scatter priorities and are not related to the core mandate of municipalities."

Council will continue crunching numbers this week. Sohi would only say he hopes the increase will be "reasonable."

"What matters is the final number, and that final number will be determined on Friday," the mayor said.

With files from CTV News Edmonton's Jeremy Thompson