Council moves forward on construction financing
Council took a step forward in borrowing more than half a billion dollars to finance a slew of long-discussed construction projects, but not without pushback from a few councillors amid concerns over provincial backing.
An impending provincial budget expected toward the end of October is looming over council, with uncertainty about what it will include in the way of capital grants after the Mackinnon panel report emphasized the need for municipalities to shoulder more of the financial load for their projects.
City manager Linda Cochrane told councillors Tuesday the city doesn’t know what the budget will hold in terms of funding for Edmonton projects and until it’s released, “it’s business as usual.”
“I think there is a lot of anticipation of the provincial budget, for sure,” she said.
That doesn’t sit well for Ward 11 Coun. Mike Nickel, who voted down several of the “nice to have” projects because of the city’s tight financial situation.
“I think I’ve got a bunch of what I call economic crisis deniers going right now,” Nickel told reporters after the first reading of the borrowing bylaws was passed by council. ” We can’t afford any new spending and on top of this, we have a provincial budget that’s coming down the pipe and I don’t think they’re in any mood to give us any more money.”
Passing the first reading for financing the Lewis Farms Recreation Centre, new electric buses, Stadium LRT Station upgrades, Terwillegar Drive Expressway upgrades and other transit projects means the bylaw will now be advertised to the public and allow for the 15-day petition period. Only then, in about a month, would council vote on the second and third readings, which would allow for the spending to begin.
City staff told councillors they could hold off on those readings, expected around mid-october, until there was more certainty around the budget.
But many councillors had no problem moving forward on the plans to spend, trusting the provincial government’s campaign promises of honouring the city charter financing agreement.
“I’m not terribly nervous at this stage,” said Ward 1 Coun. Andrew Knack.
“I think we’ve heard from the current provincial government during their campaign very clearly that they were going to honour the commitments that have been made, all of the past funding commitments, and I have no reason to doubt their word.”
Ward 4 Coun. Aaron Paquette is asking for action on litter after hearing from residents across the city who are fed up with a rise in garbage. In a motion passed at council Tuesday, Paquette is asking the city to look at possibly increasing the $250 fine and additional signage to deter people from littering.
“It’s coming from the community. They’re tired of seeing fastfood trash all over the place, tired of seeing it along the boulevards and fences,” he said. “A community wants to feel pride in their streets.”
City staff will prepare a report, including a jurisdictional scan of successful littering prevention programs, and return to council.
Tickets for littering have seen a spike this year. Bylaw officers have issued 42 tickets already in 2019 compared to only 22 in all of 2018.