2023-2026 BUDGET
As you've likely heard, the four year budget is upon us! For anyone struggling with this complex process, a number of my colleagues have posted excellent resources to help you navigate - for example, Councillor Andrew Knack's 10 Things to Know About Budget or Councillor Ashley Salvador's Budget Engagement Walkthrough.
I thought that instead of providing a line-by-line approach of what motions I plan to move or projects I'll support, I would share the five key considerations that will guide my decisions, and provide examples of what this could look like as we move forward in our deliberations.
Follow Through
It's important to me that we follow through with the plans we've developed as a community. Our Council is lucky to have inherited two outstanding documents to help guide our decision making - City Plan and the Energy Transition Strategy. These plans are based on input from thousands of Edmontonians and detailed technical work. They provide practical guides to help us best meet the challenges of the future and set out a roadmap of how we can get there.
To make sure we follow through on the path laid out for us, I'll be advocating to fund a range of climate actions, like scaling up the Clean Energy Improvement Program and continuing to grow our district energy systems. I'd also like us to commit to funding for City Plan Implementation to help catalyse our 15 minute communities.
Reconciliation and anti-racism are other examples of commitments we need to follow through on. I'm pleased that the draft budget has funding for the Truth and Reconciliation Action Plan, MMIWG+ Action Plan, and anti-racism grants. I'd also like to see us fund the great ongoing work of Heritage Council, including their amazing FIRE program.
The follow through logic also applies to ensuring that any new facility, road, or park we build or acquire is kept in good shape. This means I'm supportive of funding additional resources for basic road and park maintenance.
Follow through also means enforcing the rules we have in place. Excessive vehicle noise is a great example of this - we have the bylaws in place to ticket these noisy disruptions but currently don't have the staff to hand out tickets. I want to make sure that our bylaws have bite and that the standards we set as a community are upheld.
Now or Never?
While some investments we make now will take years to fully materialise, that doesn't mean they have to come at a cost to the present.
A good example of this is investments in transit, like Bus Rapid Transit and On Demand service. These investments help us achieve our long-term goals to shift the way we move around the city, and they will also mean major improvements to service in the here and now. Improvements to active transportation, including sidewalks and bike lanes, also help us to reach long term goals while creating safer and more inclusive travel options for Edmontonians of all ages today. Expanded urban farms similarly provide great gardening opportunities right away, and in the long run help support our city's food security.
There are so many opportunities to create win-win situations where we don’t have to accept short term pain for long term gain.
Focusing on Fixes
We face a range of complex challenges in our community but we also know there are solutions that work. I'm keen to invest in projects that help shift the way we respond to issues and create lasting change.
One example is REACH 24/7 Crisis Diversion. This program does a great job of responding to non-criminal crises that can reduce pressure on EPS resources. But REACH currently doesn’t have enough staff to respond to all the calls they receive. I'll be advocating for more funding for REACH to help them scale up this solution and allow EPS to focus their resources on other critical safety issues in our community.
Another example is the proposed expansion of our encampment response teams. I'm worried about the ongoing cycle of displacement that causes disruption for all Edmontonians - both those in the encampments and surrounding neighbours and businesses as well. If we have to choose between the two, I would rather see us focus on additional bridge and affordable housing options that will better focus our resources on ending the cycle of homelessness.
The principle of fixes also makes me hesitant to continue investing in infrastructure that will lock us into existing patterns that cost us more in the long-term. An example of this is the additional $42m for Terwillegar Drive. There are some great aspects of the project - including bus lanes for rapid transit, a new pedestrian bridge, and shared-use paths - that support transformative change. I'm less confident about the project components that add new lanes only. I appreciate how important safety and reduced congestion is but decades of experience shows us that building more lanes won't achieve this - yet providing alternative transportation options can.
Multiplier Effect
A fourth priority for me is to fund opportunities where a small contribution has a much bigger impact. One example is fleet replacement. Committing to buying emissions neutral vehicles will save us fuel costs in future budgets. Similarly, investing one dollar in climate adaptation today can save us $13-$15 in the future.
The Affordable Housing Investment Program provides tremendous returns. Every grant dollar provided by the City in this program leveraged $4 from other sources and enabled us to build 2,600 new affordable housing units. I also want to be ready to take advantage of funding programs from other orders of government - like the third round of the federal Rapid Housing Initiative. If we don't have matching capital funds ready, we'll leave $2 billion of available project funding on the table.
Organisations like Explore Edmonton and the Africa Centre are examples of how seed funding from the City can be used to attract resources from other governments, businesses, and civil society. These types of investments help our city resources go a long way, offering an efficient way to provide important services in our community.
I'm also keen to reintroduce an incentive for residential development downtown. A similar incentive rolled out this year led to $25 leveraged for every $1 we spent. That represents a great economic boost in the short-term and ongoing uplift in revenue for the city in the long term - all while supporting vibrancy in the core.
Your insights
The final critical input is what I'm hearing from Edmontonians through phone calls and emails, my community conversations, the Satisfaction Survey, and our non-statutory public hearings. I'm grateful to the dozens of people who have spoken to us over the past three days, and the many more who have reached out in other ways. Thank you for sharing what you're passionate about, whether bike lanes, housing, or keeping taxes affordable. Your input is a guardrail that helps keep me on track as we follow our roadmaps ahead.
Balanced budget
The upcoming budget deliberations will be a challenging balancing act - not just in terms of revenue and expenses but how we support prosperity now and in the future. The encouraging thing to remember is that we can make these forward-looking investments while also creating a more liveable, inclusive, and resilient city in the here and now. I have high hopes for the deliberations ahead and look forward to keeping you posted on the process - be sure to check my weekly highlights for regular updates!
