Municipal Politics

[David A]

Yes, I feel the province is bullying cities and that does not make it easier and there are no easy answers to how to resolve this ongoing situation at the municipal level.

However, I do feel the city is enabling this by spending on things the province should, so the most logical solution is to stop doing that, put the ball back in the provinces court and it would improve the city's financial position somewhat.

Edmonton voters are feeling very squeezed and are very tired of taxes going up at high rates. As much as I dislike the provinces approach, I feel the people running our city are equally bad and given public opinion I suspect that is a common feeling. If our councilors can't shape up and I don't have much hope for many of the current bunch, they will soon be replaced.

 

[kcantor]

Sometimes it seems like the current Provincial government hates municipalities. They're refusing to fund affordable housing developments that are provincially owned, they've cut infrastructure funding across the board at a time of record population growth, and they introduced municipal provincial parties and passed the ability for the Province to force any Council member to step down.

Who is asking for these changes? I am not surprised Knack is choosing not to run for re-election in this political climate.

I think it's less that the current Provincial government hates municipalities as the current Provincial government hating anyone and anything that isn't "them" and/or controlled by them whether that's municipalities or the federal government or police services or Alberta Health or pension plans or immigration...

 

[Gus Haynes]

^That's exactly it. The UCP, and Danielle Smith in particular, are fiercely tribal at their core.

 

[thommyjo]

If the province had actually cut income taxes like they promised, that’d help with the increase in property taxes.

Instead those have stayed flat and municipal have been forced to increase.

I really wish our taxes were better balanced across all levels of government.

 

[TAS]

We are all somewhat engaged here on the issues however the average person is not and all they see is their taxes going up. Up until now Council has funded everything, they rarely say no to things. That has got to change or we have to be okay with double digit property tax increases.

Yes, we are growing and the province should increase funding accordingly but overall grants have largely not decreased, just not in the way Council wants to be funded. The province has opted for more one-time grants such as we saw in the last budget.

We have to have serious conversations about what we can and can't afford regardless of the province, something that hasn't happened up until now. We are going to have to pay down our debts first over the next decade and be selective about growth projects over maintenance. Also what parts of the city get prioritized.

It's simply not good enough to place the blame solely on the province in my opinion. We've seen oil prices sliding and come next March the province may have a lot less money to work with as well.

Yes the city can do better.

The province has been aggressive in bringing more people to Alberta as well and Smith even threw out population numbers like 10 million people in the future. Funding right now is not matching growth and you hear that not just from municipalities but school boards, health officials etc.

In terms of oil prices sliding some right now, keep in mind that with Trans Mountain Pipeline oil production is at its highest level ever with no sense it is slowing down. So while profits per barrel may be down, it is being made up with increased volume.

 

[trevorhayden]

We need a provincial tax strike now until DS rightfully returns the money the UCP stole back to Edmonton.