On Day 4 of budget deliberations, Edmonton city council passed a spending plan that will see property taxes increase by 6.1 per cent in 2025.
City councillors began the week by trying to reduce the 8.1 per cent property tax increase for next year that had been proposed to council by city administrators earlier this fall.
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In a news release issued on Oct. 31, deputy city manager Stacey Padbury noted that administrators have planned for issues that will create challenges in crafting a budget, but noted “they’re much bigger than forecasted when we developed the four-year budget in 2022.”
“We are delivering services beyond what the current budget can support and that’s not sustainable. Like many Edmontonians who continue to deal with high costs, we have to make some tough choices about what money we have coming in and what we’re spending it on.”
City administrators have noted that Edmonton’s quickly-growing population, coupled with inflation, has made it increasingly expensive to provide the services that the city currently does.
More to come…