The Pulse: Oct. 3, 2022

City council may end up locking in a funding formula for the Edmonton Police Service budget before the 2023-2026 budget deliberations begin, despite a stated desire to consider the police budget in the context of all the city's expenses.

A draft funding formula is going before council on Oct. 3. It sets the base budget at $407 million per year, starting in 2023, as approved by city council in a 12-1 vote on June 7.

Although the June motion from Coun. Jennifer Rice to develop a new funding formula asked for a draft to return "for approval as part of the 2023-2026 operating budget deliberations," administration has recommended that city council approve the revised funding formula now, well before the 2023-2026 budget deliberations get underway.

It projects an annual hike equivalent to a 0.4% increase to the tax levy for each of the next four years. It's not clear from the documents what that means in terms of dollars, but Postmedia reported the increase next year would be $7 million.

Earlier this year, Mayor Amarjeet Sohi indicated in a blog post that he had concerns about approving the police budget separately from other budget items.

"A funding formula with automatic increases does not allow Council to consider police funding alongside all other budget lines in any given year," he wrote. "With the EPS budget representing nearly a quarter of your property tax bill, I think it is incredibly important that Council understands the value of what we pay for before locking-in increases to the largest line item year-over-year."

By providing EPS with a predictable level of funding for each year of the next four-year budget cycle, the formula is intended to address the financial impacts of population growth and inflation.

But the proposed formula does not account for any change in funding from the provincial or federal governments. That's a problem because a projected $22 million drop in provincial funding from photo radar means the true cost to the Edmonton taxpayer will be significantly higher than the funding formula projects.

"I find that really deceptive, because that is not all the money we are going to have to use tax levy for to cover police costs," Coun. Erin Rutherford told Postmedia.

• The provincial government has announced $63 million to reduce homelessness and $124 million to increase access to addiction services in Calgary and Edmonton. Mayor Amarjeet Sohi estimated Edmonton's share of the $187 million (invested over two years) would be $70 million. "The significant investments announced today will support many important initiatives and also help close the funding gap between Edmonton and Calgary to support Edmonton's unhoused community members," he wrote.
• A gathering was held on Sunday for the community to say goodbye to Scona Pool, which city council decided to close after 65 years in operation. "The loss of Scona Pool will leave a swimming pool-sized hole in our hearts," said Coun. Michael Janz, who attended the event.
• Light Horse Park, located next to the Connaught Armoury in Old Strathcona, has opened as a place where anyone impacted by war or conflict can grieve. The new park, which has been in the works since 2011, is an initiative of the South Alberta Light Horse Regiment.
• Jeffrey Sundquist, CEO of the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce, said Edmonton businesses are facing "challenging times" due to rising inflation and continued supply chain issues, with small businesses getting hit the hardest. "There's no question that the balance sheets of larger organizations can outlast the small entrepreneur," he said.
• A volunteer group called Plant Forever has so far planted 750 trees since starting in 2017, with a goal to plant 17,000 in total. "Our focus is on mitigating the climate crisis through building up the urban forest by private property tree planting," Nathaniel Perumal, the organization's vice-president of operations, told Global News.
• The provincial government said it will implement the Alberta Human Trafficking Task Force's five recommendations and has committed $20.8 million over the next four years toward the fight against human trafficking. Among other things, the government said the funding would establish an Office to Combat Trafficking in Persons and a centre of excellence for research and data collection.
• The Toronto Raptors opened their pre-season with a dominant 114-82 victory over the Utah Jazz in front of a capacity crowd at Rogers Place in Edmonton on Sunday, Oct. 2. Raptors guard Fred Van Vleet told CBC News that the team has received "rock-star treatment" since arriving in Edmonton on Saturday.
• Alberta's United Conservative Party will select a new leader on Thursday, Oct. 6, marking the end of Jason Kenney's tenure as Alberta premier. University of Alberta political scientist Jared Wesley told CBC News that Kenney's plan for the province, founded on the conservatism of "prosperity first," failed to resonate with Albertans during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The focus this week will be on the proposed funding formula for the Edmonton Police Service and the controversial jurisdictional scan of police funding that argues the previous funding formula "appears to be serving the City of Edmonton, its police commission, and police service well."

City council will meet on Monday, with a council services committee meeting scheduled for Tuesday morning and a public hearing taking place the rest of the day. At a non-regular city council meeting scheduled for Friday, council will discuss two private reports related to the upcoming budget.

Key agenda items outside of police funding include the following:

• Council will discuss the plan to sell the naming rights for the Clareview Community Recreation Centre to Canadian Tire Jumpstart Charities. If approved, the agreement could generate just under $500,000 in revenue each year. The sale of naming rights for four other recreation centres could follow. The discussion was postponed from the Sept. 12 meeting.
• Bylaw 20117 — also postponed from an earlier meeting — would reduce the number of single-use items used and discarded in Edmonton by banning plastic shopping bags, making customers request any single-use accessories, banning Styrofoam containers, and compelling restaurants to serve dine-in drink orders in reusable cups while also allowing customers to use their own reusable drink cups.
• As of Sept. 30, 2021, the City of Edmonton employed 1,636 people in temporary positions, down nearly 29% from the 2,294 people it employed temporarily as of Sept. 30, 2018. The Temporary and Seasonal Workforce Review project, which began in June 2021, aims to review the onboarding process for new employees and to redesign the seasonal hiring process. Already the project has resulted in 101 temporary assignments being converted into permanent positions, though administration said this change has not significantly affected the size of the workforce.

This week offers answers to your questions about estate planning, a talk from a Humboldt Bronco on World Mental Health Day, a look at the state of the Edmonton region, a pitch night for businesses seeking investment, and a cross-cultural conversation on survival and healing.

• Oct. 3-7: Wills Week 2022 with the Edmonton Community Foundation
• Oct. 4, 6:30pm: "My Road to Recovery" with Tyler Smith at NAIT's Centre for Applied Technology
• Oct. 6, 11:30am: State of the Region with the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce
• Oct. 6, 6pm: Startup TNT Investment Summit VI - Top 20 Pitch Night online and at DriveWyze
• Oct. 6, 7pm: Honouring Residential School and Holocaust Survivors: A conversation with Carol Wylie and Terri Cardinal at the Stanley A. Milner Library

Find even more listings in Taproot's weekly roundups.

Photo: Carol Wylie's art installation, "They didn't know we were seeds," features large-scale portraits honouring those lost in residential schools and the Holocaust. (Jewish Federation of Edmonton)