The City has 70 different services and over 200 construction projects. 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 the 4-year budget on December 16, 2022. Council will make further adjustments to the budget each spring and fall, in response to any significant changes that happened since the 4-year budget was set.
For more information, visit Budget Process and Financial Strategy.