This week, city council will meet on Monday with a continuation scheduled for Tuesday morning, and a special city council meeting scheduled for Tuesday afternoon.
Key agenda items include the following:
- Council will have its first opportunity to discuss the proposed 2023-2026 operating budget, which includes property tax increases of 3.9% each year, due in part to staff wage increases, the rising cost of debt for already-approved projects like LRT expansion, higher energy costs, and the return of the police funding formula. A number of unfunded service packages will also be considered over the next month, including the implementation of the Bike Plan, an express bus service from the airport to downtown, and Phase 1 of the Edmonton Metropolitan Transit Services Commission (EMTSC) regional service plan.
- The city's first carbon budget is intended to augment council's decisions about the capital and operating budgets, and it highlights that current investments are not enough to achieve reduction targets.
- A public hearing will be held at 1:30pm on Nov. 14 for proposed changes to the city's policies regarding debt. Administration recommends increasing total debt servicing limits from 22% of city revenues to 26% of city revenues (but borrowing above 21% would be restricted to "emergency purposes" only) and increasing the tax-supported debt servicing limit from 15% of tax-supported revenues to 18% of tax-supported expenditures.
Here are some of the other new agenda items:
- Council will consider five options for dealing with amendments to the budget. Administration recommends against the "first moved, first voted" and randomized approaches, and also recommends that some sections of the council procedures bylaw be waived to help "smooth the pace of deliberations."
- The 2021 annual report for the Edmonton Police Service will be presented at council. It was submitted to the Edmonton Police Commission in March.
The following items from committee will be considered:
- An amendment to Traffic Bylaw 5590, which would increase the fine for violating parking bans from $100 to $250, should be given three readings, community and public services committee recommended. Administration says the change brings the fine "into alignment with most bylaw infractions."
- A motion from Coun. Joanne Wright calling for administration to engage with stakeholders to evaluate mitigation measures by the shisha industry was requisitioned without a recommendation.
Meetings are streamed live on YouTube on the Chamber channel and River Valley Room channel.