A report to city council's executive committee, outlining a roughly $60-million hole in the books, offers council a true deficit of options, said the co-hosts of Episode 280 of Speaking Municipally.
The fiscal gulf threatens Edmonton's long-term financial stability, acting city manager Eddie Robar told the committee at an Oct. 9 meeting. "There is a gap between what residents need and want us to provide, and what we are resourced to deliver," he said.
Co-hosts Mack Male and Troy Pavlek noted that the $60-million gap is roughly what the province owes Edmonton after it stopped paying grants in lieu of property taxes. Mayor Amarjeet Sohi has recently launched the Fair Compensation Project to direct public pressure onto the province to pay up.
Male said Sohi's campaign likely won't be enough to budge the provincial government, and council will have to address the gap during the upcoming fall budget adjustment.
"Whether they like it or not, (city council's) not getting money from the province to fill this gap by the end of the calendar year," he said. "So they're going to have to do something that is within their power. And they really have a couple of options: They can cut things, or they can tax more."
Election chess
Sohi's campaign, noted Postmedia columnist Keith Gerein, is a jab from a politician known for collaborating with people who tend to throw punches. Pavlek suggested Sohi's move has implications for the 2025 election, too, as it forces his potential mayoral rival, Coun. Tim Cartmell, to support Sohi's message to the United Conservative Party government or explain why he won't.
But Male challenged that point, noting Cartmell's recent statement that followed Sohi's decision partially threaded the needle. Cartmell, Male said, wrote that Edmonton "absolutely" needs more support from the province, but that Sohi should have collaborated rather than cajoled.
Pavlek, however, said Cartmell's message "sounds a little bit like, 'Be nice to (Premier) Danielle Smith.'"
But wait, there's more
The Oct. 11 episode of Taproot's civic affairs podcast discusses Edmonton Transit's explosive growth, a report on "free-riders" (free-drivers?) from outside Edmonton's boundaries, ongoing questions about shelter spaces as winter looms, the end of the "healthy streets" pilot in Chinatown, Stadium Station's safety-first design, and much more. Speaking Municipally comes out on Fridays. Listening and subscription options are all right here.
Photo: Mayor Amarjeet Sohi is trying to push the United Conservative Party government to pay property taxes on more than 200 buildings owned by the province in Edmonton. (Mack Male/Flickr)