Edmonton police request $99M from city council for capital budget

The Edmonton Police Service is asking the city for more funds in capital budget.

The police department – the department that already receives the most money – is asking city council for $99 million over four years.

“Over the last 10 years the police budget has increased 60 per cent,” said Mayor Amarjeet Sohi. “I have not seen any other department increase by 60 per cent.”

Edmonton’s mayor says council has tough choices to make during capital budget deliberations, with inflationary pressures and the rising cost of everything impacting the city’s wallet.

In October, city council voted to fund EPS for $418 million in 2023 in an amended funding formula.

IT, safe street initiatives 

If approved, police say the additional $99 million will go towards safe street initiatives, IT and other upgrades not covered in the operating budget.

The mayor says while some of the police’s asks are reasonable, the city has financial realities to contend with.

“There’s only so much money to go around,” said Sohi. “And every organization has to make tough decisions on reallocating those resources, and police is no different.”

If police and city council are not able to come to an agreement, a provincial appeals process could potentially be used. That option was brought up by police Chief Dale McFee.

Councillors say with a primarily new council, new relationships with the police are being established.

“I’m going to say the resetting of relationships, those boundaries have needed to be reestablished,” said ward sipiwiyiniwak Coun. Sarah Hamilton. “So I hope honestly we don’t get to that point. That would be a real tragedy for Edmonton if we needed to go through that appeals process. And I’m frankly not sure how we’re going to navigate that.”

Deliberations begin next week at city hall.