Edmonton city councillors have set a 6.9 per cent property tax rate increase for the 2026 budget, which they finalized on Thursday. Council settled in for budget debates on Monday with promises to keep that rate at 6.4 per cent, a number which was tested by Wednesday after council agreed to allocate $11 million for Explore Edmonton, the city’s tourism body. Borrowing that money from the tax levy increased Edmontonians’ property taxes by another 0.5 per cent. The amendment was discussed at length and approved 8-5 on Wednesday afternoon. Mayor Andrew Knack and councillors Reed Clarke, Mike Elliott, Thu Parmar and Karen Principe voted against the funding. Council had also debated both operating and capital budget cuts to trim the tax rate, but none on the capital side were passed, while the operating side saw only a $440,000 trim. After four days of deliberations, some councillors were frustrated by the results. “Many of my constituents had clearly expressed that they could not afford another tax increase, and I feel the budget does not adequately reflect their concerns,” said Elliott, the councillor for Ward pihêsiwin. Ward tastawiyiniwak’s Principe, who motioned several capital budget cuts, none of which were passed, said she had expected more “tough decisions” from this council. Ahead of debates, Knack had made it clear that much of the spending for the final year of the four-year budget would be to address structural budget variances, or gaps in quality of city services. “While I appreciate all of the reduction motions, I think many of the reductions would have made those structural variances worse,” Knack said on Thursday. When the city’s four-year financial plan was first passed in 2022, council had planned for annual property tax increases near five per cent across the board. The real increases have been much steeper. In 2024, for example, the municipal property tax rate increase was 8.9 per cent. The budget funds core city services like police, fire, waste collection, transit, recreation, snow clearing and more. Council added millions in new spending which did not raise the tax increase, including 25 new buses in the 2027 budget, 31 new peace officers for traffic enforcement, regular transit cleaning and upgrades to an intersection near River Cree Casino and Resort. Council also added $3 million to maintain the city’s Dedicated Accessible Transit Service at its current service level, living wages for contracted transit cleaners, a new tax subclass for derelict properties and an infill liaison team. With a nearly seven-per-cent tax rate increase, the average Edmonton homeowner (with a home value assessed at around $465,500) can expect a $245 increase in taxes next year.
