Edmonton City Councillor Aaron Paquette admitted “no one is happy” about the property tax increase for Edmontonians to 8.9%. 

The statement comes after a unanimous city council vote on Tuesday approved the tax increase to help aid the city’s financial problems. 

Despite the vote being unanimous, multiple City Councillors later said they opposed the final decision, including Tim Cartmell. 

“We are not permitted by law to budget for a deficit, and to reject this latest increase and go back to the 6.6 from the fall would have created that deficit,” said Cartmell.

 “We were pretty much sucked in and having to support this for now, but not forever,” he added. 

Councillor Andrew Knack also said that even with the increase, the city will continue to struggle with the large volume of individuals that have moved to Edmonton. 

“If we were focused on our political careers, we should just say no, but I don’t know how we say no,” Knack stated, adding that “this is a pretty massive challenge.”

Councillor Aaron Paquette noted that “no one is happy” with the tax increase, but said he will continue to “stand behind this budget.” 

Taxes increase due to the city’s financial woes 

According to the city’s Chief Financial Officer and Deputy City Manager, Stacey Padbury, half the money from the 8.9% will be used to sustain city services.

“We don’t take this increase recommendation lightly. However, to maintain the financial stability we face, these are the decisions that need to be made,” she said, adding that “The city is dealing with the same financial challenges Edmontonians are dealing with as we recover from a high inflation period, which is resulting in an increased cost to deliver the same level of services.”

The City of Edmonton admits they’re “out of money”

After almost reaching its debt limit, the City of Edmonton now struggles to afford funding for basic services such as transit stations, LRT cars, and homeless shelters. 

“The city’s tapped, the city’s out of money,” said Cartmell last month. 

After wasting $82 million on failed electric ETS vehicles, they now require $257 million to replace over 300 buses and $240 million for 37 LRT cars. 

Due to the financial situation, city councillors began “picking and choosing” where the limited money could go, and decided not to refund Edmonton homeless services such as Boyle Street and the Bissel Centre.