City of Edmonton administration has updated city council on the current capital and operating budgets for the second quarter of 2024. To keep Edmonton city council and Edmontonians informed about the City of Edmonton’s finances and capital projects, it said it provides these updates three times per year. “The City is facing ongoing budget challenges, including inflationary pressures, a rapidly growing population and changing service needs of Edmontonians,” said City of Edmonton Chief Financial Officer and Deputy City Manager of Financial and Corporate Services Stacey Padbury in a Tuesday press release. “These challenges contributed to the City’s deficit in 2023 and continue to impact the City in 2024.”Padbury confirmed City of Edmonton administration is putting plans in place to address these challenges, starting with the budget update this fall.“Based on our financial results from the second quarter, the City is forecasting a deficit of $34 million this year,” said Padbury. “The City’s finances have been stable and tools like the Financial Stabilization Reserve help to manage one-time pressures like deficits.”At the moment, she said it is “working to keep the actual deficit as low as possible for 2024, but we must also address the root causes to prevent future deficits and maintain the City’s financial health.”This fall, the City of Edmonton said council will consider making adjustments to its 2023-2026 budget. This will include updates to how much it spends on programs and services in 2025 and 2026, how much it needs to collect in property taxes, how it moves forward with its plan to build or maintain infrastructure, and how it responds to the ongoing impacts of inflation, rapid population growth, and other budget challenges.Administration will present its fall budget adjustment recommendations in November and city council will deliberate any adjustments in December.Padbury concluded by saying the financial challenges the City of Edmonton faces “are complex and will take several years to address.” She said it is going to have to make some tough choices to increase revenues and reduce costs. “It will take a combination of service reductions, property tax increases and service fee increases to ensure our continued financial stability,” she said. Edmonton Mayor Amarjeet Sohi confirmed in April his city like other Alberta municipalities is struggling with pressures from inflation, unprecedented population growth and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. READ MORE: Sohi says Edmonton's financial challenges stem from Alberta government underfundingHowever, Sohi said the City of Edmonton has taken a measured approach to tackle its financial challenges. “It is important for both you and the public to know that the City of Edmonton remains compliant with our guiding legislation in all aspects of our operations, including with our financial policies which are well within the legislated limits,” said Sohi.
