Council has made efforts in recent years on both the revenue and expense ledgers, though it’s legitimate to feel like they have leaned too heavily on the tax button of late

You can save this article by registering for free here. Or sign-in if you have an account.

As Edmontonians are undoubtedly aware, city council last week completed its 2026 budget deliberations by approving its fourth consecutive larger-than-normal tax hike — this one at 6.9 per cent. 

Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.

Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.

Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.

Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.

More may be on the way as the city tries to fight its way out of a storm of high debt, high maintenance costs, high inflation, high social needs, depleted emergency funds, provincial squeezing and downloading, and rapidly growing public demands.

Making it harder is that cities have only so many tools to use — basically just variations on raising taxes (or user fees) and cutting expenses.

Get the latest headlines, breaking news and columns.

By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc.

A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder.

The next issue of Headline News will soon be in your inbox.

We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try again

Interested in more newsletters? Browse here.

No one likes the former and the latter gets political, because people don’t value infrastructure and services in the same way. For someone who doesn’t use transit or libraries, it might be fine to scale those back so they can keep more money in their pocket. For someone else, that scenario could be a disaster.

Though it may not seem like it, council has made efforts in recent years on both the revenue and expense ledgers, though it’s certainly legitimate to feel like they have leaned too heavily on the tax button of late.

Thus the dilemma — how do you get out of this vicious cycle?

Part of the solution may come from finding other ways to raise revenue.  

Case in point, Municipal Affairs Minister Dan Williams recently spoke to an Edmonton Chamber of Commerce event and, beyond the usual hypocritical warnings for municipalities to stay in their lane and focus on core services, he also said he is open to giving them new financial tools.

What does that mean? Unfortunately, the minister was clearer on what it didn’t mean, in that he wasn’t interested in different forms of taxes, user fees and fines.

Whatever the case, if he’s serious about new revenue options — and that’s a big if........

© Edmonton Journal