OTTAWA: Property taxes for a typical Edmonton home will rise by $72 next year, if a proposed budget amendment is approved by city council.
That’s a 3.1-per-cent increase, slightly less than what council approved in the spring, when it forecast a 3.4-per-cent tax increase for 2017. Part of that increase will go to cover costs associated with the province’s carbon tax, which are estimated to be just over $4 million.
The city’s chief financial officer, Todd Burge, said $10 million has already been built into the budget over the next two years to deal with the costs of the NDP government’s climate-change plan.
“I think the impact is pretty much what we expected it to be, and we’ve tried to manage it,” he said. “We’ve got lower fuel costs, which are kind of offsetting some of it anyways.”
Burge said the city has managed to save more than $38 million through a series of measures, such as eliminating vacant jobs and freezing management wages for 2017.
He said that won’t have any impact on frontline services for Edmontonians. “We were looking for things that didn’t impact service — probably longer-term vacancies that haven’t been filled and removing them from the budget,” he said.
Burge said the city also has more revenue coming in than anticipated. Increased construction in Edmonton, along with a bigger than expected dividend from Epcor, brought in more tax dollars.
The proposed 3.1-per-cent property tax increase will also pay for the neighbourhood renewal program, the Valley Line LRT and city programs and services.
The proposed budget amendments will go to city council on Dec. 9.
