The Pulse: Dec. 2, 2024

This week, council will debate the fall operating and capital budget adjustments, a process that will determine the city's tax increase in 2025.

Administration has proposed an 8.1% tax increase in 2025 as the city faces an estimated $34 million deficit and a rising cost to deliver municipal services. The proposed budget will mostly result in static service levels, despite the tax rate increase.

Council tentatively approved a 7% increase earlier this year. Administration proposes an additional 1% each year for the next two years to replenish the financial stabilization reserve. The final 0.1% of the proposed increase would pay for higher-than-expected costs for the 2025 election.

Council could cut or add programs to the budget, which would change the tax increase. Administration recommends adding funding to the capital budget for neighbourhood reconstruction in Overlands, Homesteader, Hillview, and Glenwood, as well as to replace or rehabilitate the Wellington, Beverly, and Coliseum LRT bridges. Council could choose to add about $6 million to the budget to build a replacement Harbin Gate at 97 Street NW and 101A Avenue, where the original Chinatown in Edmonton began.

In the operating budget, there are several unfunded service packages that council has the option to add to the budget. Council may continue funding for the City Centre Optimization project, which provides enhanced cleaning services for downtown, and also extend the program to the other 12 business improvement areas, for a total cost of about $6.4 million. There is also a $10-million service package for enhanced turf mowing and weeding.

Tempers flared during a Nov. 13 meeting about the budget. Mayor Amarjeet Sohi said that, for previous budgets, he has worked with his colleagues outside of council chambers to reach consensus on multiple budget items that can be passed all at once using an omnibus motion. Sohi said he plans to do the same this year, but Coun. Tim Cartmell created a motion against this practice, and suggested factions of council have sometimes created the omnibus lists without his input. A tense exchange with multiple points of order followed. Cartmell's motion to stop a budget omnibus ultimately failed.

Sohi wrote an open letter to council outlining how he hopes to reduce the proposed tax levy increase by at least 2%. He recommends to temporarily cut the neighbourhood renewal budget by $15 million, fund enhanced downtown cleaning and introduce cleaning budgets for other business improvement areas, create an industrial growth hub to grow the non-residential tax base, and replenish the city's financial stabilization reserve, which is used for unbudgeted emergency expenses. Sohi also wants to increase community league funding by 25%, increase mowing and weeding service levels, and fund the projected shortfall in the Ride Transit Program.

City administration conducted a budget survey in the fall that suggests Edmontonians are more supportive of service level reductions than paying more property taxes. About half of respondents said they support a reduction in services to keep the tax increase as close to 7% as possible, while about 25% said they supported keeping the service levels the same and paying more.

Meetings stream live on YouTube on the Chamber channel and River Valley Room channel.

• The City of Edmonton plans to sell two downtown office buildings, Chancery Hall and Century Place, and relocate 1,350 staff as part of a $22.7-million project to optimize downtown workspaces. If approved by city council, funding would come from an interim financing reserve, with repayment expected from building sale proceeds and cost savings. "Our biggest risk is how we're going to be able to sell and when we're going to be able to sell the buildings and get that investment going," said Pascale Ladouceur, branch manager of infrastructure planning and design for the city.
• Edmonton Mayor Amarjeet Sohi has proposed a plan to reduce the property tax increase from 8.1% to below 6% for 2025. Sohi's plan includes reallocating funds to keep the city's core clean, support the low-income transit pass program, and establish an industrial growth hub, alongside efforts to make the budget process more transparent and efficient. "Despite financial pressures, Edmonton is not returning to austerity, but advancing with a determined plan to maintain and improve core services," Sohi wrote in a letter posted to his website.
• Edmonton's civic unions are urging the city to focus on core services in the upcoming budget, emphasizing better support for transit employees, including making temporary jobs permanent, and enhancing the role of transit peace officers. ATU Local 569 president Steve Bradshaw said peace officers also need better equipment and tools, including "stronger authorities for what statutes and bylaws they enforce." CSU 52 outgoing president Lanny Chudyk said city council needs to define what it means by core services. "We have these wonderful things we would like to do, but when you don't have enough money to do everything, are they actually needs, or are they simply wants?" Chudyk said.
• Edmonton will deactivate its extreme weather response today as temperatures are expected to rise this week, with a high of 8°C forecast for Dec. 4. The average high throughout November was -1.1°C, which is below the 10-year average, although the city had 11 lows in a row below -13°C, which is the most since 1996.
• Bike Edmonton and the City of Edmonton are collaborating to enhance winter cycling safety by distributing free winter studded tires. To be eligible, participants must do three winter cycling challenges by Jan. 31, 2025. You can apply here.
• The Hope Mission is among the local charities facing challenges due to the ongoing Canada Post strike. Donor relations manager Kevin Wiebe said the organization is unable to receive more than half its donations because of the strike. "We're grateful for the support of the public, but we're also hoping that this can get wrapped up soon for the sake of the community we serve," Wiebe said.
• EPCOR is matching donations up to $25,000 for Youth Empowerment and Support Services, and the Bissell Centre as part of its Giving Tuesday campaign due to rising demand for youth services. The contribution could provide 3,000 meals at the Bissell Centre and support three youths at YESS for a year.
• The City of Edmonton is celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Clareview Community Recreation Centre, which has become a popular hub in the northeast for its diverse facilities and programs, including pools, arenas, a fitness centre, and a multicultural centre. The City said visits to all recreation and leisure centres have increased from 4.86 million last year to 5.16 million in 2024.
• Edmonton's 2024 summer construction season, particularly on the Yellowhead and Stony Plain Road, has concluded. Mayor Amarjeet Sohi acknowledged the frustrations faced by drivers but emphasized the necessity of ongoing infrastructure investments to avoid future issues. The new Stony Plain Road bridge over Groat Road in Edmonton is now open after being closed for nearly two years for reconstruction as part of the Valley Line West LRT project. The bridge, located between 129 Street and Connaught Drive, now accommodates vehicles, pedestrians, bicycles, and LRT traffic.

The recent United Conservative Party government decision to cut the province's contributions to the Edmonton Metropolitan Region Board has created uncertainties that the region's 13 municipalities will be forced to solve, Mack Male said on Episode 287 of Speaking Municipally.

The board, created in 2017 but with roots in collaborative regional boards that date back to the 1940s, requires local statutory plans to align with its overall growth plan. This allows it to create binding targets, such as its region's density standards, to ensure its 13 municipalities coordinate, rather than compete with, duplicate efforts of, or undercut one another.

But with the UCP's shift to make EMRB membership voluntary for municipalities, and its decision to abruptly cut rather than create a ramp-down period for its funding, Male said the region is entering uncharted territory. "There's an open question about what happens to all of those plans, what happens to that regional planning," he said.

Male also discussed Alberta New Democratic Party leader Naheed Nenshi's criticism of the UCP decision as creating a "Wild West" during a housing crisis. Nenshi suggested the region will not be able to build housing where infrastructure is best suited for that growth.

Building on Nenshi's points, Male said the reasoning behind regional collaboration has always been to prevent the 13 member municipalities from "trying to solve the same large problem 13 times."

Pavlek, however, said the EMRB had failed to deliver at essential times, noting the abandoned regional transit commission that came out of the EMRB's broader masterplan goals. "That was a pretty critical failure on one of the marquee selling points of the EMRB," he said.

The Nov. 29 episode of Taproot's civic affairs podcast examines the UCP decision, including what it might mean for Edmonton Global, how Denver has invested in its downtown in ways that echo what some suggest Edmonton should do, Taproot's recent stories on participatory budgeting and the city's carbon budget, and more. Find all the ways to listen to and subscribe to Speaking Municipally, which comes out most Fridays, right here.

Here are some events happening today in the Edmonton area.

• Messed Up Monday starting at 6pm at 9910
• Community Learning Session - Housing and the Toxic Drug Crisis starting at 7pm at the Strathcona Community League hall
• Until Dec. 7: Brother Rat at Fringe Theatre Arts Barns
• Until Dec. 15: Edmonton Christmas Market at Fort Edmonton Park
• Until Dec. 24: A Christmas Carol at Citadel Theatre
• Until Jan. 1: Zoominescence at Edmonton Valley Zoo
• Until Jan. 5: Borealis Lights Drive Thru Christmas Lights at Kinsmen RV Park

And here are some upcoming events to keep in mind:

• Dec. 15: A Christmas Past at Rutherford House
• Dec. 19: Christmas Breakfast at Winspear Centre
• Dec. 22: The Little Match Girl Passion at All Saints Anglican Cathedral

Visit the beta version of the Taproot Edmonton Calendar for many more events in the Edmonton region.