How I’m Approaching the Budget: My Principles & Platform
How exactly am I as your ward Councillor approaching this budget? The platform that I was elected on in Ward Karhiio was: community, economy, climate. (You can view my platform on my website). These are the three main pillars that the platform was focused on. And below that there are about 35 actions. These are the things that were important to me, to my values, but also the things I've heard from many of the residents in the ward when I was campaigning. One year later, they remain highly relevant and still very important. And in the last year I think we have made some really good progress.
So when I go into this four-year budget, where possible, I'm finding places of alignment between the budget and this platform and seeing where we can leverage funding to make the ward and our city a better place. However, it's an incredibly challenging budget cycle. And the budget before us has many contributing inputs. There's a lot of things that goes into it. And it builds upon decisions made over the past few years and few budget cycles, including decisions made by previous Council. Oftentimes those decisions carry on for many years. And they don't really get realised until maybe now. So this budget is not necessarily in my opinion, a reflection of the priorities of the current Council. We're actually catching up on old priorities. Mind you, we have seen years of chronic underinvestment in our public infrastructure. We have seen, you know, the impact of 0% tax increase when the city is still growing. We are still recovering from a global pandemic. And that's all the things that we're wrestling with this time around. While where we are today is because of the decisions from previous councils, we are here now, and our job now is to be accountable for it.
It’s challenging and it’s complex. And this four-year budget is absolutely one of the biggest items we're going to be accountable for, as a Council.
So in these four years coming up, there are so many unforeseen circumstances and things that are outside of the City's control. Of course, it's COVID-19, but we're also anticipating an economic recession and that, I know, has so many people worried, including this current Council. And so we are course correcting from major unforeseen events like COVID-19, and trying to catch up from years of underinvestment, so that we can at least be at a place of stability and then we can move to the next level of transformation.
I also have three principles going into this budget:
Where possible, I am focusing on the principle of investing long-term and with a longer time horizon. Recognizing how we're still economically recovering from a pandemic, and while there will likely be property tax increases this year, after years of tax increases below inflation, I also recognise that not everything has to be done in this budget, this year. Just because we are going to be facing some really challenging times in the next few years. So where we can, I'd like to see us start to plant the seeds and still kind of work towards those Council priorities. But certainly, I don't think we need to rush and try to accomplish everything. Spreading out costs throughout the current budget and potentially for future budgets for growth projects is one way we can limit the tax increase so that it doesn't have to be so onerous and overburdening. And it also allows us to invest in transformational projects for our city. Some examples of how we're doing this in terms of spreading things out: for example, in the limiting increases in user fees so that transit fares will remain steady for two years along with user fees for recreation. Planting seeds, you know. When we talk about the carbon budget. The carbon budget, if you read it, is actually incredibly depressing, that we are falling far short of our targets. I'm not gonna get into it today, but I think the picture is actually quite bleak. And so much of the things that we need for climate adaptation and energy transition are currently unfunded. And even if we fund everything that we can, we focus on what the City can control and that's only 2% of sort of the entire community, greenhouse gas emissions. And so there's just so much work to do. I know that when it comes to carbon budgets, we just know that as a collective responsibility, everyone plays a role, but as a City we can start to invest in some planting seeds now.
Something in, for something out. What I am very conscious of is Edmontonians’ tolerance for tax increases. We know people are still struggling at a household level, particularly with food and energy prices increasing due to inflation. We learned from our city economist the other day that the people who are most impacted are always going to be those folks without discretionary spending, and it is the bottom 40% of the income level. So when I look at a budget, including things that are currently funded, and projects are unfunded, if I want to see something added because I think it's really important for the city or I think this aligns with my platform or values, I need to identify something that needs to come out. Either temporarily or for good. So that is a lens that I am looking [through] because I think that's one way to limit our property tax increase and keep it as close to the 3.9% as possible. And for this budget, I do want to emphasize that with inflation, rising costs for construction and more. It's actually not feasible for us to have another year of 0% tax increase. A lot of you have written in to me about the concerns over yet another year of tax increase. You might recall that in 2020, the property tax increase was zero. And last year was 1.9. As we grapple with a pandemic, that is not possible and it's not a sustainable path forward, unless we want to stop, if we want to stop migration into the city, if we want to stop development, you know, all these things are also jobs that people can have. But if we want to stop growing, if we want to just do nothing, perhaps but even then, 3.9% is to maintain current service, and I am actually quite concerned about what will happen you know, if that is kind of where we end up going. So, if we maintain that course of action of 0%, given that we'll property tax for the past couple years has been below inflation, I think it will have a really negative impact not just for the next four years, but for the next few decades. So to maintain our current service level, we are looking at that tax increase of 3.9% on average for the next four years. And this is a base that we are starting.
I want to be responsive to the concerns and needs in my ward. For the past year we've gotten thousands of emails and phone calls. A lot of feedback on our core services, what has been working well, what hasn't been working so well, and that requires more investment. Some of these core services keep our city running, but have fallen short over the last few years. The three areas that I receive the most number of feedback on from ward residents are:
The number one is snow and ice. I know there has been a tonne of feedback last year and hopefully we're doing a more improved job and I know there's always room for improvement. But that also is reflected in the budget. There is funding that is going to be debated about how to improve our snow and ice service delivery.
Number two is transit. And people's lives have just been in total upheaval because of transit and then there's been so many, not only with the redesign, but there have been several service adjustments. We have our LRT that is still not opening. And so transit is a really big topic and I am looking at this budget as well for those opportunities to enhance service, including on-demand transit and bus rapid transit. And regional transit.
And the third issue that I hear a ton about is safe crossings and road safety, speeding and intersections. These are things that we can ensure our streets are safer for all. For some of these three areas, some of these are funded, some of them are not, especially for enhancing the service level, they're not funded. On demand transit, for example, is currently an unfunded service package. And for the past two years, people have been depending on that for livelihood. And it boggles my mind that they're unfunded. But this is the reality of this very tough budget deliberation. And so those are kind of three areas that I will certainly be looking at.
Where possible, I will also be keeping a close eye on some of the bigger capital projects. So infrastructure projects that are happening in the ward, things like Neighbourhood Renewal. The engagement already started, in Meyokumin and Hillview. You know, there's going to be some infrastructure upgrades with the Mill Woods rec centre, for example, very much needed. And south of the Henday, one of the biggest projects is actually the Walker Integrated Fire Station. Currently what's funded is just the fire station portion, only in this budget. I know that there has been a very controversial housing piece to this as well. It's currently not recommended as funded. But that doesn't mean it's gone forever. Engagement will still happen. But it's just saying right now, there is there is no money to fund the building of that.
And finally, I will just say, some of the other lenses I will be using are:
considering the public health impact of a project or service. How does it work towards healthy communities?
And number two, the climate and carbon impact of a project.
And number three how projects and services can support building equity.
Resources to Help with Property Tax
I know there's a lot of worries and concerns out there. If you are facing challenges with your property taxes. If you're a senior on fixed income, you know I think about you often, and I’ve been raising some of these questions in the past year but also as I'm reading through the documents. There is a seniors property tax deferral programme. So you can take advantage of this financial assistance offered through this program, offered by the Government of Alberta. Typically this information will be sent out with the assessment. It's for eligible senior homeowners to defer all, or part of, your property taxes through a low interest home equity loan with the Alberta government. And if you qualify, the government will pay the residential property taxes directly to the municipality on their behalf. And so you repay the loan with interest when you move or sell the home. Another other option is a monthly payment plan for property taxes. Just because it might be really difficult to pay everything in one go and the City does offer that monthly payment plan. And we'll be sharing that link as well. There are other resources online to help you better understand your property tax. Our taxation team is always happy to talk to people and answer their questions.
In Conclusion
If you are apprehensive about this budget, so am I. It is gonna be tough. I'm gonna say that probably over and over again. It's what's keeping me up at night. It is extremely stressful. I do feel worn out. But I also think it's very, just a very, very important role that we're in. It's an honour to be in this role to think about the future of our city and I still you know, I think we should be proud that we are what remains one of the most affordable cities in the country. We still have a very much a vibrant arts and cultural scene. We have a growing population, we have a very young population. And I think this budget will help us reach our city's goals. Continue to grow and build our shared vision and make our city, our neighbourhoods, a better place to live, work and play.
This is not an easy budget. It's not an easy topic. I've sought out feedback about what's important to you this budget cycle. Quite frankly, I know that if somebody asked me that question, as an average Edmontonians I wouldn't even know where to start. And hopefully this gives you a bit of context to what we're working on, and what is being debated all the time in City Hall.
Please do get in touch we'd love to hear from you. I am always open to feedback and constructive criticism so you can email us at keren.tang@edmonton.ca or 780-496-8142. If you haven't signed up for the newsletter, I encourage you to to sign up for the newsletter at kerentang.ca/contact.
Thanks so much. Take care everyone. Stay safe, stay healthy and I look forward to seeing you soon. Thank you!
Budget Resources
Budget Overview + All Budget Documents: edmonton.ca/budget
Top 10 things you need to know about the City Budget
You can register to speak here: https://www.edmonton.ca/meetings. Scroll down to the button titled "Request to Speak". Or get there via edmonton.ca/budget.
Public Hearing Playbook for Land Use Public Hearings, with some good tips on how 'panels' work. https://www.edmonton.ca/.../Land-Use...
Property Tax Resources
Understanding your property taxes: https://www.edmonton.ca/residential.../property-taxes
Seniors Property Tax Deferral Program: https://www.edmonton.ca/.../tax-assistance-for-seniors
Monthly Payment Plan for Property Taxes: https://www.edmonton.ca/.../property.../monthly-payment-plan
