Budget Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

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2023-2026 Capital Budget

What capital projects is the City building in 2023-2026?

The capital budget is about what the City builds and includes funding for new infrastructure as well as maintenance of existing infrastructure Edmontonians use every day. The approved $7.9 billion capital budget will support continuing to build previously approved projects and adding additional projects.

New community funded projects include:

$133 million for rehabilitation of Hawrelak Park
$100 million to fund the Active Transportation Infrastructure Plan
$53 million for energy retrofits of City facilities undergoing renewal
$34.5 million for development of District Energy networks
$22.9 million for affordable housing land acquisition and site development
$20 million to acquire land for Metro Line LRT expansion (Blatchford to Castle Downs)
$11.2 million for planning, design and delivery of emissions neutral fleet and equipment
$10.1 million for infrastructure improvements in Chinatown
$7.3 million for ramps at 137 Avenue and Anthony Henday Drive to support the city’s growth

How will the capital budget affect taxpayers?

The capital budget affects taxpayers largely through the tax-supported debt we take on to deliver our projects, as well as the tax-supported costs to operate any new construction projects once they’re in service.

The property tax impacts for each year are finalized each spring before property tax notices are sent out.

2023-2026 Operating Budget

What is being funded in the operating budget?

The operating budget is about the programs and services the City will deliver to Edmontonians over the next 4 years. This includes transformational projects and previous commitments.

The approved tax-supported operating budget will increase from $3.3 billion in 2023 to $3.5 billion in 2026. By 2026, the operating budget will include:

$18.7 million for affordable housing and homelessness prevention and $6.6 million for the affordable housing grant program
$16.8 million for transit services, including making On Demand transit service permanent and expanded On Demand transit and transit off peak service
$11.0 million for enhanced snow and ice control
$6.5 million for energy transition and $2 million for climate adaptation
$3.7 million for transit safety

How will the operating budget impact me as a homeowner?

The operating budget aims to maintain services for Edmontonians at current levels.

Considering inflation and other pressures, the budget will require an annual property tax rate increases of 4.96% in 2023 and 2024, 4.95% in 2025 and 4.39% in 2026.

This means that Edmonton households will pay about $725 in 2023 for every $100,000 of assessed home value. This is an increase of $34.

What is the annual property tax increase?

The 2023-2026 budget requires annual property tax rate increases of 4.96% in 2023 and 2024, 4.95% in 2025 and 4.39% in 2026. The budget is reviewed and adjusted each year, as needed.

During the pandemic, the City worked to keep taxes low to help provide support to Edmontonians and businesses. Property tax increases were 2.6% (2019), 1.3% (2020), 0% (2021) and 1.9% (2022), which brings property tax increases, on average, below consumer inflation.

Low or no increases aren’t sustainable in the long-term without adjusting services.

2023-2026 Carbon Budget

What does the carbon budget do?

The carbon budget informs our transition to a low carbon city. The City is one of the first cities in North America to present a carbon budget alongside our financial plans.

Unlike the capital, operating and utility budgets, Council will not deliberate or approve the carbon budget this fall. The carbon budget is a tool that shows the greenhouse gas (GHG) impacts of budget requests. This allows Council to weigh climate change impacts when they’re making financial decisions.

It also allows the City to measure and track progress against Edmonton’s emission targets, so we know how we’re doing and what we need to change.

What are the City of Edmonton’s emissions goals?

The City established community and corporate carbon budgets as part of the Community Energy Transition Strategy, which was approved by Council in April 2021. The strategy sets out Edmonton’s goal of being carbon neutral by 2050.

Edmonton’s target is to have net neutral GHG emissions by 2050, and the City of Edmonton’s (corporation) target is to be net neutral by 2040.

The City’s corporate emissions make up approximately 2% of overall emissions in Edmonton.

The carbon budget treats 2021 as the starting point for measuring our progress moving forward, and makes it clear just how much needs to be done to meet Edmonton’s emission targets:

Without further action, forecasts show Edmonton will deplete its carbon budget of 176 megatonnes by 2037
Instead of being carbon neutral by 2050, Edmonton would have a carbon deficit of 12.95 million tonnes a year

How does the carbon budget impact the capital, operating and utility budgets?

The carbon budget gives Council climate change impacts to consider alongside the financial impacts of the capital, operating and utilities budgets. The carbon budget evaluates the emissions impacts of around 400 items in the proposed budgets.

The 2023-2026 proposed budgets include recommended funding for projects that will reduce GHG emissions by 140,000 tonnes carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2e) over the 4-year period for the City.

The proposed budgets also include a number of unfunded options that are focused on climate change for Council to consider as well. Unfunded budget requests also have a GHG assessment that is included in the budget.

Are we on track to achieve Edmonton’s emissions goals?

The carbon budget makes it clear just how much needs to be done to meet Edmonton’s emission targets.

Without further action, forecasts show Edmonton will deplete its carbon budget of 176 megatonnes by 2037. Instead of being carbon neutral by 2050, Edmonton would have a carbon deficit of 12.95 megatonnes a year.

The carbon budget highlights that climate change is a collective problem that will take collective action. The City is limited in its ability to directly impact Edmonton’s emissions; its corporate emissions make up about 2% of Edmonton’s overall emissions. City Administration is actively working to reduce the City’s emissions, but to be carbon neutral by 2050, it will take a much larger collective effort, including collaboration and support from other orders of government, private investment and the actions of all Edmontonians.

What has the City already done to reduce carbon emissions?

The City is making progress. We’ve set up community and corporate carbon budgets as part of the Community Energy Transition Strategy, which was approved by Council in August 2021.

We’re also integrating carbon into our budgeting process, so Council can weigh both the carbon and financial impacts of decisions. We’re one of the first cities in North America to do a carbon budget like this.

The Community Energy Transition Strategy sets out Edmonton’s goal of being carbon neutral by 2050. Edmonton is making positive strides. Our annual greenhouse gas emissions reduction target is 7% until 2025, followed by 3% per year from 2026 to 2030. In 2021, Edmonton’s community GHG emissions were about 15 megatonnes (14.2 tonnes per person). This is a 4% decrease in emissions from 2020, and a 17.6% reduction since 2005.

Budget Process

What is a city budget?

The budget is the City’s plan for where it will get money (revenues) and how it will spend it (expenditures) in alignment with our long-term vision.

The City budgets in 4-year cycles, with the upcoming cycle running from 2023-2026. This budget was approved on December 16. Building a 4-year budget makes it easier to plan stable programs and services, and move our plans forward to build and maintain things like the LRT, recreation centres and roads.

The budget is reviewed and adjusted each year, as needed.

The budget has 4 parts: capital budget, operating budget, waste services utility budget and the Blatchford renewable energy utility budget.

And for the first time administration has developed a carbon budget alongside our financial plans.

What’s the process to build the budget?

The City has approximately 70 different services. Each business area looks at what money they think they’ll need over the next 4 years in order to deliver on their programs and services, and move construction projects forward.

Then, the City looks at what it can afford, and prioritizes the needs of each business area based on what’s absolutely necessary and how it aligns with our strategic long-term vision. We call this priority-based budgeting.

There are a lot of other factors that go into decision-making about the budget. The City also looks at the economy, the state of our savings and investments, anticipated funding from other orders of government and our financial forecasts for the next 10 years.

City administration also listens to input from Council and Edmontonians. In June and July 2022, the City invited Edmontonians of diverse backgrounds and circumstances to provide input into what the City should consider for the 4-year budget. The results of this engagement period helped advise the budget process. Details on how we listened, who we heard from and what we learned can be found in the What We Heard Report.

For the 2023-2026 budget, all of these pieces came together in proposed budgets and plans. Administration presented these documents to Council, followed by public hearings and debates. Council made adjustments and approved it on December 16, 2022.

For more information, visit Budget Process and Financial Strategy.

What is a capital budget?

The capital budget is for the things the City builds. It pays for building and maintaining infrastructure.

Examples are:

Attractions
Roads and pathways
Bridges
LRT expansion
Recreation centres
Parks
Fire halls
Neighbourhood and alley renewal

What is an operating budget?

The operating budget reflects the estimated cost for the City to provide programs and services, and the way in which those costs will be paid for, including property taxes and user fees.

Examples of these programs and services are:

Maintaining the roads and public transit systems that move people
Police, bylaws and fire rescue services to keep people safe
Attractions, leisure activities, parks and social programs that make Edmonton a great place to live, work and visit

What is a utility budget?

The City has 2 budgets for public utilities: one for Waste Services and one for Blatchford Renewable Energy.

Monthly utility rates (and not property taxes) fund all residential waste services, including:

Waste collection
Eco Stations
Reuse Centre
Big Bin events
Waste education and outreach
Edmonton Waste Management Centre operations
Landfill and utility management

Blatchford Renewable Energy charges a customer rate as well, including a component to cover operating costs and infrastructure.

Blatchford Renewable Energy owns and operates the Blatchford community’s District Energy Sharing System (DESS). This system will provide heating, cooling and hot water services to Blatchford residents and businesses through monthly utility rates.

What is the carbon budget?

The carbon budget has been developed as a tool to integrate greenhouse gas emissions into the City budgeting and prioritization process.

For the first time, the City presented a carbon budget alongside its proposed financial plans for 2023 to 2026. The carbon budget provides a holistic view of the carbon impacts for requests in the capital, operating and utility budgets. This will allow Council the opportunity to consider climate change impacts when making decisions about the City's budget for the next 4 years.

The carbon budget also measures and tracks progress against Edmonton's emissions targets. This will allow Council and Administration to adjust strategies as necessary to achieve the targets in our Community Energy Transition Strategy.

The City is working towards reducing its corporate emissions to become carbon neutral by 2040 and supporting emission reductions to become carbon neutral by 2050 in the community.

Why have a multi-year budget?

The City budgets in 4-year cycles. This long view makes it easier to plan stable programs and services, and move our plans forward to build and maintain things like LRT, recreation centres and roads, all in alignment with our long-term strategic plans. It also gives Edmontonians a better sense of what to expect with property taxes.

The 2023-2026 budget was approved on December 2022.

Why do you have to adjust the budget?

Multi-year budgets typically need adjustments so the City can respond to any changes that happened since the 4-year budget was set, including:

Changes in external factors such as provincial or federal budgets or legislation
Adjustments for operating impacts of capital (when construction projects open to service)
Unforeseen changes to economic forecasts
Council-directed changes

Twice a year, City administration brings forward the Supplemental Operating Budget Adjustment (SOBA) and Supplemental Capital Budget Adjustment (SCBA). Council also approves adjustments to the Waste Services and Blatchford Renewable Energy budgets in separate reports to the Utility Committee. Through these reports, Council can make changes without revisiting the 4-year budgets as a whole.

The fall supplemental operating budget adjustment process is used to make ongoing adjustments to the budget in advance of the budget year. The spring supplemental operating budget adjustment is more restrictive, and is used to respond to the release of the provincial and federal budgets, and deal with any emerging items before finalizing the property tax levy for a given year.

What are the operating and capital financial updates?

They're regular updates on the City's performance against its budgets.

The City’s capital and operating budgets plan for investment in programs, services and infrastructure over 4 years. This means keeping the lights on, plowing snow, and building sidewalks and bridges.

Administration reports to Council and Edmontonians 3 times a year through the financial updates on how operating and capital project spending compares to those plans, including where the City will be at the end of the year.

The capital financial update also provides updates on major capital projects as well as on the City’s debt position. The operating financial update also provides an update on the City’s larger reserves and an update on the economy.

Knowing the current state of City spending against the capital and operating budgets can help Council make choices about where to stay the course in the previously approved 4-year budgets and what to change in the budget for the current year.

How did the City conduct public engagement to help advise the 4-year budget?

The City conducted extensive engagement during the summer of 2022. This was done by connecting with over 32,000 Edmontonians of diverse backgrounds and circumstances. Through this engagement, input was provided into what the City should consider to build a new 4-year budget.

A variety of engagement opportunities, both digital and in-person, were provided to ensure accessible participation and that a wide reach of diverse communities was completed.

The engagement highlighted that the budget must balance many competing needs, including delivering excellent services and construction projects, keeping taxes and fees manageable for Edmontonians, and supporting vulnerable populations.

More information can be found in the What We Heard Report or the October 31, 2022 Council Report.

In addition, the City conducted a Service Satisfaction Survey , which provided insight on Edmontonians’ perceptions of services and their relative importance.

What is a non-statutory hearing? Why do we have it?

The Budget Non-Statutory Public Hearing is typically held in November or December. This hearing happens every year, and gives residents the chance to speak directly with Council about the budget.

This isn’t the only way Edmontonians influence the budget. From electing a representative to Council to speaking at regular public hearings, giving input through public engagement or reaching out to Council and Administration directly, Edmontonians speak up all year about what matters most to them and where tax dollars should go.

Edmontonians can also submit feedback on the budget through Council Correspondence.

Funding Sources/Taxes

How does the City pay for its programs and services?

Alberta’s Municipal Government Act (MGA) defines municipal taxation powers, so the money to pay for the operating programs and services comes from:

Property taxes: Account for over half of our operating revenues.
User fees: These include recreation facility admissions, transit fares, building fees, and other permits. They are designed to partially recover costs from people who directly use the service.
Franchise fees: ATCO Gas and EPCOR provide gas, power, water and wastewater services to Edmontonians. The City charges these operators franchise fees for related costs and land access.

For more see Operating Budget Overview.

How does the City pay to build and maintain its infrastructure?

The City raises money for its capital projects (building and maintaining roads, bridges, building recreation centres, fire halls, police stations, LRT, libraries) through, but not limited to:

Grants: 39% of the City's approved capital budget is funded with grants from the provincial and federal governments.
Tax-supported debt: The City uses debt in order to take advantage of lower interest rates and move priority infrastructure projects forward.
Reserves: Some of the City's reserves are money set aside to pay for capital projects on a cash basis over the short term.
Investment income: Much of this income is transferred to the capital budget to pay for new infrastructure.

How does the City set property taxes?

The amount of property taxes the City collects each year is set when Council approves the annual operating budget. The operating budget is the amount of money the City needs to run our programs and services in a given year, including fire rescue services, parks, police, recreation centres, road operations and maintenance and transit.

The City first considers its other revenue sources (fines and permits, user fees, franchise fees, grants and other operating revenue sources) to cover the costs to run the program and services, and then looks to property tax to ensure revenues meet expenditures. In accordance with the Provincial Municipal Government Act, the City must have a balanced budget, and cannot use debt to balance the operating budget. The City has limited options to fund the balance of the cost to provide these services, so more than 50% of the operating budget is funded through property taxes.

Once the operating budget is set, the City divides the tax levy (how much money we need to collect through property taxes) among Edmonton property owners. The assessed value of your property determines the share of the total tax levy that you will pay through your property tax bill.

For more information, visit: edmonton.ca/taxes.

Why does the City use debt?

The City only uses debt for capital projects, such as building roads, facilities and other infrastructure or doing major renewal when needed. The City does not use debt for day-to-day operations, like fire rescue, parks, police, recreation centres, snow removal or transit.

Building and maintaining the City’s infrastructure is expensive, costing billions of dollars. In order to fund these projects without the use of debt, the City would need to save up tax dollars for decades before starting project work, which would stall our capital plans and mean that we’d be taxing many Edmontonians who would never get to use the facility, road or LRT they paid for. Debt allows us to build now and spread the cost out more fairly, to all users over the life of that facility, road or LRT project.

As well, the City gets lower interest rates that it can lock in for up to 35 years. This can save tax dollars over time.

Why does it feel like my taxes are always going up?

Budget pressures are multifaceted, but inflation plays an important role. Inflation describes an increase in price levels for goods and services and impacts costs for Edmontonians, businesses, and even the City of Edmonton, though in different ways. The impact on costs depends on the good or service that is being purchased, and by how much prices have risen.

When the City's costs increase due to inflation, so does the pressure to increase its tax-supported operating budget (without considering any changes to its service levels, and without considering the financial costs of transformational change, including investments to address climate change, and to support economic growth and diversification). If the amount of property taxes collected stays the same or increases at a rate below the rate of inflation experienced by the City of Edmonton, that means that there are fewer dollars available for existing City services and programs, and reduced financial capacity to invest in our city. This approach is not sustainable over the long-term if the City is expected to maintain service and program levels, while also seeing through to its commitments for transformational change.

It’s important to note that the overall tax increase (the percentage increase to the City’s tax-supported operating budget) is different from the change that most individual Edmonton property owners will experience on their property tax bills. The year-to-year change in a property’s assessment value, compared to the change in the overall market, will determine whether your individual tax increase is more or less than the overall tax increase.

For more information, visit: edmonton.ca/taxes.

2022 Budget

How did Council arrive at a 1.9% tax increase?

In 2018, when approving the original 2019-2022 4-year operating budget, Council approved tax increases of 2.6% for each year of the budget. In light of the pandemic and the current economic landscape, Council subsequently adjusted the budgets resulting in a 0% tax increase in 2021 and a reasonable 1.9% tax increase in 2022. The 2022 tax increase is lower than what was originally approved and is lower than inflation. This increase puts the City in a strong position to respond to the financial uncertainty caused by the pandemic, results in no unintended decreases to existing programs and services, and allows the City to be able to manage its capital plan for 2022. This is also one of the lowest increases among major Canadian cities.

For more information, visit 2022 Budget Highlights .

How are you dealing with the financial impacts of COVID on the budget?

COVID has had a significant impact on our revenue sources, including transit, and community and recreation facility revenues, and has also resulted in increased costs for things like personal protective equipment (PPE) and enhanced cleaning.

The estimated budget impact of the pandemic in 2020, 2021 and 2022 has been $152.9 million, $152.0 million and $96.7 million respectively. The pandemic has had a combined total budget impact on the City of just over $400 million. This is one of the most significant impacts on the City’s operating budget in recent history.

The City respects the value of Edmontonians’ tax dollars and the financial challenges faced by many residents, so Administration has worked hard to keep the property tax levy low over the past 2 years and look at other ways to manage the financial impacts of COVID-19 on the budget.

The City has been managing the impacts of COVID through management of its expenditures, using support from other levels of government, and drawing funds from reserves, including those that are used to fund the capital program. Although taxes have not been raised, managing the impacts of COVID comes at a cost.

The City realizes that the pandemic will likely have permanent impacts to the way people use and interact with City services, which will mean permanent impacts to the City’s operating budget. The City plans to address them in the 2023-2026 budget, when we have a better understanding of the long-term impact of COVID on things like transit ridership and recreation facility attendance.

Learn More About Your Budget

Budget Process and Financial Strategy

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Financial Reports

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City releases proposed 2023-2026 operating budget and first carbon budget
City proposes $7.75 billion capital budget over next 4 years

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