The Pulse: Sept. 19, 2022

City council is just six weeks from the start of the 2023-2026 budget process. Agreeing on the next four-year budgets could be quite a challenge, given rising costs, the need to incorporate a carbon budget and accounting framework, and this council's composition, with several new members, a wide range of priorities, and time-management difficulties.

The budget process will begin on Oct. 31 and could take until Dec. 16 if council uses all the time that has been set aside for deliberations. Most regular city council and committee meetings have been cancelled for November and December.

City council must balance the budget, as municipalities in Alberta cannot run a deficit or use debt to pay for operations. Edmonton's average annual tax increase over the past five years has been about 1.8%, which the city says is among the lowest in Canada.

Earlier this year, city council heard that maintaining existing services and paying for new projects already in motion could lead to an 8.5% tax increase in 2023. But in a preliminary discussion in early May, most councillors said they wanted to keep the increase between 1% and 5%.

Mayor Amarjeet Sohi said he doesn't expect council will approve a steep hike.

"But at the same time, we need to recognize that as the city grows, as our expectations from city government grow, we need to have additional resources to provide those services," he said. "Whether it's building more sustainable modes of transportation, all those things are what Edmontonians want us to take action on, but we will be very responsible."

According to the city, the average household in Edmonton pays about $7.61 per day in municipal property taxes. About $1.08 of that goes to police, $0.74 goes to neighbourhood renewal, $0.69 goes to public transit, $0.64 goes to fire rescue services, and $0.29 goes to road maintenance and traffic management.

• Protesters called on the Edmonton Police Service to release closed-circuit television footage to back up their statement that a woman was brandishing a knife before an officer shoved her to the ground. A short video of the Sept. 15 arrest near the Hope Mission, which was shared online by Judith Gale of Bear Clan Beaver Hills House, shows an officer forcefully pushing a woman to the pavement from behind before putting her in handcuffs. "It was just gross behaviour from a civil servant, especially to one of our most vulnerable, a small little woman who was actually walking away and she had her back turned on him and therefore wasn't expecting a hit of that magnitude," Gale told Postmedia.
• Police are investigating a gun threat made against participants in Pride Corner on Whyte, a counter-protest that takes place every Friday at the corner of 104 Street and Whyte Avenue. The threat came a week after a man with a baseball bat threatened to assault people at the weekly gathering, which aims to create a safe space for members of the LGBTQ2S+ community. "We are feeling many emotions — fear and anger definitely being at the forefront," organizer Claire Pearen told CBC. "But (we are) also feeling disheartened, knowing that there are humans out there that want to do harm to others simply for our existence."
• Edmonton's Anaerobic Digestion Facility has not delivered revenue from electricity generation, as promised when it was first funded in 2013, nor is it diverting as much waste from the landfill as it was supposed to. "The digester is not currently generating revenue … as with many innovative projects, the facility's implementation has not been straightforward," waste service branch manager Denis Jubinville told Postmedia. "While the facility is currently processing organics and diverting waste, the city is currently working with involved parties to improve functionality and achieve maximum benefits from the facility." Council recently approved $6.7 million for equipment to better filter the garbage.
• Many of Edmonton's 160 community leagues celebrated Community League Day this weekend, including Ritchie Community League, which marked its 100th anniversary, and Knottwood Community League, which opened a long-awaited community centre. The 2,500-square-food hall has a fireside lounge, accessible washrooms, and a kitchen.
• After several complaints from communities around Mill Creek Ravine, the city euthanized a large male coyote. This is the eighth coyote to be killed this year, which has seen a 15% increase in complaints since 2021.

Episode 190 of Speaking Municipally challenges city council to spend the money needed to open supportive housing units, even though it's not the city's responsibility.

Mayor Amarjeet Sohi has been asking the provincial government to contribute $11 million towards the operation of several supportive housing complexes, two of which are sitting vacant for lack of operational funds. Waiting for that to happen is pointless, notwithstanding the province's $13-billion surplus, co-host Troy Pavlek argued on Taproot's civic affairs podcast.

"The UCP has given us no indication they ever plan to do this, and in fact, have given us every indication that there is no plan to commit this funding," he said. "Politically, let's stop holding out our hat to say, 'Pretty please, Mr. Province, let's be kind to these people who need our support the most.' Let's just fund it. We clearly have the money because we just funded a Healthy Streets Operations Centre."

Council decided in mid-August to spend $15.2 million over two years on the Healthy Streets Operations Centre in Chinatown, with about two-thirds of the money going towards policing.

"When they approved that, the mayor himself said we know that the underlying causes around the safety and security issues in Chinatown relate to mental health and addictions and housing and homelessness — those things are provincial responsibilities," said co-host Mack Male, expanding on a point he made in a tweet. "(Sohi) said, 'I'm under no illusion that we will be able to make our communities safer until we tackle these issues.' So they funded the police with money that maybe could have gone to address some of those root issues. And the reason is, 'It's not our jurisdiction?'"

Spending money to get people into housing would pay off, said Male, citing a new research paper on Housing First from the University of Calgary's School of Public Policy.

Hear more about this issue on the Sept. 16 episode, in addition to their takes on council's decision to support Phase 1 of regional transit, the postponed hearing on banning some single-use items, and a plan to change the way park development is funded, as well as what voting records reveal and what they don't.

This week offers opportunities to learn about AI applications, a video-game entrepreneur's journey, carbon capture, and a revenue-oriented accelerator, along with a couple of business-and-pleasure get-togethers.

• Sept. 20, 12pm: AI Meetup, presented by Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (Amii)
• Sept. 20, 6pm: Lifelong Learning: The Key to Success with Addicting Games founder Bill Karamouzis at NAIT
• Sept. 20-22: Carbon Capture Canada 2022 at the Edmonton Convention Centre
• Sept. 21, 12:30pm: Alberta Innovates Revenue Accelerator info session from GrowthX
• Sept. 22, 6pm: Startup TNT Happy Hour at Northern Chicken on 104
• Sept. 23, 9am: Coffee with the Chamber at Allwest Furnishings

Find even more listings in Taproot's weekly roundups.

Photo: Amii's next AI meetup will feature James R. Wright on the use of AI to reduce the spread of disinformation on social media and Payam Mousavi on machine learning at Attabotics. (Amii)