This week, a public hearing will take place on March 13, and a city council meeting will take place on March 14 (with a continuation the next day if required). The performance-evaluation committee for the city manager and city auditor will also meet this week, on March 17, after last week's meeting was postponed.
In October, city council approved a funding formula for the Edmonton Police Service for 2023 and voted 11-2 to revisit the debate about a funding formula for future years. This year's first discussion related to the funding formula was supposed to happen this week, but it has now been postponed to June 13.
Here are some of the key items on the agenda:
- Edmonton finished 2022 with a surplus of $81.5 million, according to the city's preliminary year-end financial results, mainly due to lower-than-anticipated fuel and utility costs, as well as unfilled vacancies. The surplus would have been even higher had it not been for an $18.2-million overspend on the snow and ice control budget.
- In its year-end financial update for the capital budget, administration said it expects to briefly exceed the tax-supported debt servicing limit (which is 18% of tax-supported net operating expenditures) in 2027 and 2028, restricting future debt financing. The city had about $3.9 billion in total debt as of Dec. 31, 2022.
- The integrity commissioner received 33 complaints in 2022, eight of which were investigated (seven arose from the same social media post). Most of the complaints were related to blocking on social media, alleged conflicts of interest, and councillors attending political events.
The second phase of the rehabilitation project at The Orange Hub was 13% over budget and 7% behind schedule as of Dec. 31, 2022. The number of over-budget and delayed capital projects came down slightly, from 68 as of Sept. 30, 2022, to 64 by the end of the year. (City of Edmonton)
Here are some of the other new agenda items:
- Edmonton has not used a list of electors for its municipal elections since 1992, after which the practice was discontinued due to cost (about $816,000 at the time), and no other major municipalities in Alberta use a register of electors either. Administration estimates that restarting the practice could cost about $5 million, as well as carrying risks related to administration and privacy.
- Council member appointments are required for GEF Seniors Housing, the River Valley Alliance, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, and REACH Edmonton, as existing appointments are expiring.
- City council will consider borrowing bylaws for the district energy network strategy, bike plan implementation, missing and enhanced sidewalks, Hawrelak Park rehabilitation, and the High Level Bridge rehabilitation.
- Rezoning applications will be heard for multi-unit housing in Britannia Youngstown, row housing in Central McDougall, small-scale infill in Glenora, medium-rise multi-unit housing in Boyle Street, and small-scale housing in Inglewood.
Meetings are streamed live on YouTube on the Chamber channel and River Valley Room channel.