Edmonton city council\u2019s public engagement on what the next four-year budget should look like is now underway.<\/p>\n
Mayor Andrew Knack was joined by chief financial officer Stacey Padbury on Wednesday to announce the window to have your say<\/a> opened last Monday and will remain so until May 1. The mayor encouraged city residents to get involved in the decisions that will affect taxpayers in the coming four years and beyond.<\/p>\n \u201cThis will create a clear framework for accountability as Edmontonians can see exactly how council\u2019s decisions connect to real-world outcomes,\u201d he said. \u201cCouncil is doing a few things differently to support the decision making on this budget, all with the goal of making the process more transparent and accessible. City administration will consider the input Edmontonians share during engagement as they build the budget and share the recommendations this fall.\u201d<\/p>\n Each ward will have one town hall session hosted by its councillor alongside Knack. Anyone unable to make a session in their ward can visit https:\/\/engaged.edmonton.ca\/budget<\/a> to provide feedback. Locations and times of town halls will also be available at this link. The city will also be operating pop up sessions at various locations around Edmonton.<\/p>\n Council has limited itself to four key but open ended priorities<\/a> \u2014 economic development, growth management, quality services, and safety. In practice, this translates to reworking the budget to stamp out $42.2 million in structural budget variances<\/a> which have been eating into the city\u2019s financial stabilization reserve<\/a> \u2014\u00a0 an emergency fund for surprise expenses. The fund has been steadily shrinking since the COVID-19 pandemic, though council was able to inject $19 million into the reserve from a $31 million budget surplus<\/a> from 2025. The fund now sits at $87.4 million, just over half the $150 million cushion it\u2019s supposed to balance at.<\/p>\n The city has a number of other overdue bills to contend with \u2014 particularly a snowballing infrastructure deficit<\/a> related to decades of growth. A number of departments are working with equipment or infrastructure in poor condition. Renewing the city\u2019s $39.8 billion in assets will cost $2.8 billion, though that cost will undoubtedly increase in the future as inflation continues. Connecting with voters itself also costs money \u2014 Edmonton currently<\/a> spends the lowest on outreach compared to other major Canadian cities. Knack has also proposed overhauling<\/a> the city\u2019s snow removal program. Another expense on the table is resuming<\/a> weekly trash pickups.<\/p>\n Many of these expenses are non-negotiable \u2014 for example the city needs to construct six new fire halls to service new neighbourhoods.<\/p>\n Some of Edmonton\u2019s financial woes are the result of provincial legislation \u2014 traffic enforcement used to be revenue neutral<\/a> until the United Conservative Party removed the city\u2019s ability to use photo radar fines to enforce traffic safety.<\/p>\n Several ideas have come up on how to raise revenue to pay for all this<\/a>, other than property taxes<\/a>. Ward papastew Coun. Michael Janz has suggested charging for parking<\/a> at major attractions similar to Calgary. Janz has also suggested a tiered payment system at city facilities for non-Edmonton residents who don\u2019t pay property taxes to the city but still use the city\u2019s roads and amenities. Ward Dene Coun. Aaron Paquette wants to aggressively build up the ED Tel Endowment Fund<\/a> to expand the revenue stream from the interest. Edmonton currently provides free dumping of snow to private contractors and neighbouring municipalities \u2014 officials have floated the idea of charging a tipping fee<\/a> to drop snow at these locations.<\/p>\n Council spent much of March in a deep dive into city operations, getting an overview of each department and the services they provide for residents. Those reports are publicly available<\/a> on the city\u2019s web site.<\/p>\n ebowling@postmedia.com<\/a><\/p>\n Related<\/p>\n Bookmark our website and support our journalism: Don\u2019t miss the news you need to know \u2014 add EdmontonJournal.com<\/a> and EdmontonSun.com<\/a> to your bookmarks and sign up for our newsletters here.<\/a><\/p>\n You can also support our journalism by becoming a digital subscriber. Subscribers gain unlimited access to The Edmonton Journal, Edmonton Sun, National Post and 13 other Canadian news sites. Support us by subscribing today: The Edmonton Journal<\/a> | The Edmonton Sun.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Edmonton city council\u2019s public engagement on what the next four-year budget should look like is now underway. 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