Africa Centre, winter festivals big winners in council budget debate
City council created several big winners in budget debates Wednesday, doubling city funding for the Africa Centre and giving Edmonton’s four signature winter festivals a boost.
But they postponed a request to cover 25 new police officers for the Leduc County-area annexation, and still have a debate looming on dandelions.
Coun. Michael Walters moved to increase Edmonton’s turf maintenance budget by $3 million next year to both increase the spring mowing cycle and treat dandelions on sports fields with the nontraditional herbicide iron chelate.
Final budget votes were expected Thursday morning. Council will then tackle the capital budget.
Council was looking at a 3.6 per cent property tax increase for the 2018 budget. That dropped to 3.1 per cent Wednesday when chief financial officer Todd Burge said the province had given approval to reduce contributions to the employee pension fund by one per cent. That’s $7.7 million in savings.
The dandelion vote could push the tax increase back up to about 3.3 per cent, if it passes. A 3.3 per cent tax increase would be worth $89 for a typical homeowner in 2018, increasing municipal taxes to $3,013 on a house worth $397,000. Here’s what else happened:
■ Edmonton Chamber of Commerce president Janet Riopel urged council to reduce the tax increase with a hiring freeze, arguing businesses must already handle an increase to minimum wage and carbon tax next year.
“The economy is not getting better, not yet,” she said.
■ Edmonton’s winter festivals — Ice on Whyte, Flying Canoe Volant, Silver Skate and Deep Freeze — said funding has not kept pace with their booming popularity. Flying Canoe Volant went from 3,000 visitors at the Mill Creek night walk five years ago to 40,000 last year.
Council allocated an additional $200,000 split between them.
■ Chandra Devam, an entrepreneur who uses immersive reality to improve surgery outcomes, was among several entrepreneurs and health leaders arguing in favour of $985,000 for Edmonton’s Health City initiative. Those funds passed unanimously.
■ The Africa Centre asked for help adjusting to its new location, hiring extra staff to raise funds and opening two satellite centres.
■ Coun. Sarah Hamilton argued council can’t expect the centre to become sustainable without help.
It ended up getting an extra $237,500 annually, plus a oneyear $90,000 grant for fundraising. But Mayor Don Iveson argued it shouldn’t look to set up physical satellite centres, just programming in existing spaces. That part of the request wasn’t funded.
■ Council will deal with a police request for 25 more officers during the spring budget deliberations, when it hopes to have a timeline for annexation. The request was separate from a $16-million increase police will get in 2018 to deal with inflation and population growth.
■ Council voted to fund 3.5 extra staff positions at a cost of $470,000 for the Abundant Communities program, which re-connects neighbours through visits, block parties and other activities.
■ Meals on Wheels asked for an extra $250,000 in 2018 to cope with rising costs. If not, it said it would have to cut back on services to subsidized clients. The request will be voted on Thursday.
■ Council has yet to vote on any motion around demolition of the Coliseum. The one public speaker on the topic, Mimi Williams, urged council not to make any decision until after community members on the exhibition lands redevelopment committee can weigh in.