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August 14, 2024
Today, City Administration updated Executive Committee on how to respond to budget and growth challenges, and keep the City of Edmonton’s finances stable in the years to come. Stacey Padbury, the Chief Financial Officer and Deputy City Manager of Financial and Corporate Services, issued the following statement on this report:
“The City continues to take action to ensure its finances remain stable in the years to come. Today at Executive Committee, Administration presented updates on its work to manage budget shortfalls and property tax increases. We had a productive discussion about the $88 million in budget challenges the City is facing—including inflationary pressures, a rapidly growing population and changing service needs of Edmontonians—and what we can do to address these challenges and maintain our financial health.”
“We’re committed to finding a balance between delivering the services Edmontonians rely on and keeping property taxes and user fees manageable, but this is especially difficult given the budget challenges that both the City and Edmontonians are dealing with right now.”
“The financial challenges we face are complex and will take several years to address. This will require us to make tough choices between funding these ongoing budget challenges through increased property taxes and user fees or by reducing service levels, and it will likely take both strategies to ensure our continued financial stability.”
“We’ll continue to have these conversations as we prepare for the regular budget adjustment this fall.”
The City has developed a strategy to respond to these budget challenges, and will be bringing some related recommendations forward for Council’s consideration during the regular budget adjustment this fall.
This fall, Council will consider any adjustments to the 2023-2026 Budget, which will make updates to:
- How much the City spends on programs and services in 2025 and 2026.
- How much the City needs to collect in property taxes.
- How the City moves forward with its plan to build or maintain infrastructure.
- How the City responds to the ongoing impacts of inflation, rapid population growth and other budget challenges.
Administration will present its fall budget adjustment recommendations in November and Council will deliberate any adjustments in December.
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