Achi news desk-
There could soon be a move on money the City of Edmonton says it is owed by the Alberta government, according to Edmonton’s mayor.
It has been a month since Amarjeet Sohi wrote a six-page letter to the state. In it, he outlined nine areas where the city said the province has tens of millions in money.
Now, Sohi has taken the requests to the Department of Civic Affairs personally, meeting with Minister Ric McIver on Monday to reiterate the need for that funding.
“I was very clear that I was not there to ask for more, I was there to ask for the restoration of the support we had in the past,” said Sohi on Monday after the meeting which he described as productive.
Key among the issues is a grant towards which the province has reduced payments.
The province is not required to pay taxes to the City of Edmonton on its properties, but a long-standing grant program has seen the province effectively reimburse the city for some of those costs.
In 2019, that amount was reduced to 50 per cent. Sohi asked the province to retroactively pay back the difference — up to more than $60 million. Now, that amount has increased.
By the end of 2024, the city now says it will be $80 million short.
“It’s a big chunk of money that we used to get from the province,” said Sohi. “It equates to almost one percent of the property tax increase that we have to implement.
Last month, Edmonton city council voted to approve changes to the operating budget that will result in property tax increases of 8.9 per cent in 2024, 7 per cent in 2025 and 6.3 per cent in 2026.
The city said the tax increase will help the city “respond to several budget pressures that have increased significantly” since the city built the current 2022 budget.
Two weeks ago, Sohi said the province paying its property taxes would help put the city in a better position – a message he repeated on Monday.
“Having all that money restored will go a long way for us in alleviating some of the pressure on property taxes.”
The mayor is confident that a solution will be found.
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“There was no firm commitment but there was a very strong desire to continue working with us,” Sohi said of McIver’s response to his requests.
McIver also said it was a warm and productive discussion and he would take the city’s concerns up the chain.
“On some of those, I told him we would raise those internally and see what might or might not be done,” McIver said.
Not on the agenda: Bill 20. The proposed law, introduced last month by Premier Danielle Smith’s United Conservative Party government, would give the cabinet broad authority to dismiss councilors and overturn local bylaws.
The measure would also allow political parties to run in municipal elections – for now in Calgary and Edmonton, Alberta’s two largest cities.
If passed, the law would also open the door for corporations and unions to be able to contribute in municipal elections, which was banned by the previous New Democrat government under former premier Rachel Notley.
Edmonton city council has been adamantly against the bill.
On Friday, the province said it would be open to hearing from municipalities with amendments being made this week. Critics say that is not enough.
“One weekend is a pretty small window of time for credible and valid consultation with Albertans,” said Kyle Kasawski, Alberta NDP critic for Civic Affairs.
Mciver said in recent days, he has spoken with the mayors of Edmonton and Calgary, along with the presidents of Alberta Municipalities and Alberta Rural Municipalities.
McIver said the bill must be passed during the current legislative session, which has only 14 sitting days left.
“It’s a bit of a rush simply because the next municipal election is halfway through next year, or, the third Monday in October,” McIver explained.
“The municipal officials who actually administer that election need several months – and if there are changes, they need some time to prepare for that as well.”
Before that, Edmonton’s current mayor is clear: he wants Bill 20 to be scrapped entirely and said he spoke with McIver on Friday about that.
“Bill 18 and Bill 20 are bad pieces of legislation – they should be withdrawn and then let’s sit down with the municipalities and figure out the best way forward to solve whatever issues the province wants to solve ,” said the mayor.
Sohi said it was not brought up again during Monday’s meeting and chose to focus instead on the funding issues.
“The purpose of the meeting was not to discuss Bill 18 or Bill 20 – we asked this meeting to talk specifically about the financial challenges the City of Edmonton is facing because of the download, implementation, responsibility on municipalities.”
— With files from The Canadian Press
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