Edmonton property owners will pay a 6.1 per cent tax increase next year, down from the 8.1 per cent hike that had been proposed by city administration.
Council voted 8-4 on Thursday in favour of adjusting the 2025 operating budget.
The average Edmonton household will pay about $813 in property taxes for every $100,000 in assessed home value in 2025. That’s about $47 more for every $100,000 in assessed value.
For an average Edmonton home assessed at $450,000, the 2025 property tax bill will be about $3,660.
Councillors Tim Cartmell, Sarah Hamilton, Jennifer Rice and Karen Principe voted against the changes to the operating budget. Coun. Aaron Paquette was absent.
Coun. Anne Stevenson was one of eight on council who voted in favour of the fall adjustment.
“We do not have steep increases to transit or rec centre fees, we don’t have rollback of library hours or other services that Edmontonians rely on,” Stevenson said. “These are all critical services that help keep our city affordable.”
Earlier this week, Principe failed in an attempt to take $67 million out of bike lane projects to put toward the tax levy.
“The decisions I supported and the ones I did not support would have resulted in a lower increase,” Principe said in closing statements on the operating budget.
Coun. Andrew Knack said the city must make up for several years of low or zero tax increases during the pandemic.
“We weren’t even keeping up with population growth in the city, we weren’t even keeping up with inflation,” Knack told reporters. “I stand by that decision because it was [an] incredibly uncertain economic time for so many people.”
On Wednesday, a majority on council agreed to a series of steps that would lower the tax increase.
Mayor Amarjeet Sohi presented an 11-part omnibus amendment that would take the increase to 6.1 per cent. At the beginning of the fall budget adjustment session, finance managers had proposed an 8.1 per cent increase.
Sohi said he wanted to lower the tax increase as much as possible without compromising the city’s ability to deliver core services or ability to focus on economic growth.
His amendment proposed drawing on various financing sources to lower the tax increase and pay for programs that weren’t included in the budget adjustment.
The programs being funded include $1.4 million for turf maintenance to cut grass on city land four times a season, up from the current two, and $861,000 for tree pruning.
Edmonton city councillors say they will try to lower the 8.1 per cent proposed tax increase for next year. They agree that the city needs a new approach in the way it balances the books and where it gets its revenue.
There’s $3.1 million to continue the City Centre Optimization project, which helps business improvement areas clean up graffiti and garbage, and maintain sidewalks.
The amendment also takes care of Edmonton Transit Service’s $13 million deficit, using funds from the LRT reserve.
The city would use $13.2 million from new franchise fees from the Epcor utility to reduce the tax levy, and $8 million from Epcor dividends to the city.
Sohi suggested using $15 million from a fund usually used for capital projects.
Tim Cartmell, councillor for Ward pihêsiwin, opposed using that funding source. Instead, he suggested pausing some of the city’s neighbourhood renewal program.
“I think that there’s considerably more money to be found within neighbourhood renewal,” Cartmell said. “This funding source is pay-as-you-go, which is different capital projects. Which ones? Don’t know. Can they manage it? Sure. Will they manage it in the way that we want? Don’t know.”
Sohi wants to direct $462,000 to start an industrial growth hub to increase the non-residential tax base.
The amendment includes replenishing the financial stabilization reserve (FSR) over five years instead of three, which frees up some $20 million for the short term.
The FSR is a rainy-day fund for emergency or unforeseen expenses and city policy dictates it have a $75 million minimum.
Based on September operating results, the reserve is projected to be $58.8 million by end of 2024.
Finance managers had suggested using one per cent of the tax levy to replenish the FSR. Sohi suggests using 0.5 per cent of the tax levy for five years.
Renewal fund
Sohi plans to introduce a subsequent motion to create a dedicated fund for renewal projects.
Ashley Salvador, councillor for Ward Métis, said she’s been advocating for a renewal fund for years.
“As a councillor who represents a solely mature neighbourhood that [was] built out in the ’50s and ’60s, we’ve had questions related to whether rec centres are going to have to be closed, whether we can afford to maintain all these beloved facilities that people have come to love,” she said.
“So having a dedicated renewal fund will ensure that we can do that.”
Council also approved a motion from Ward O-day’min Coun. Anne Stevenson to increase Explore Edmonton’s operating budget by $4.7 million for 2025 on a one-time basis, pending an updated work plan that includes an approach to support local tourism and the night-time economy.
Ward Ipiihkoohkanipiaohtsi Coun. Jennifer Rice had put forward 12 motions to try to reduce the tax levy, none of which were supported by the rest of council.
Councillors and the mayor usually discuss potential amendments in private before presenting them publicly in council chambers.
Several councillors said they hadn’t seen Rice’s ideas ahead of time.
Property owners will learn about their assessments in January and will receive their tax notices in May.