Edmonton’s mayor takes to social media to call-out province on property taxes

Edmonton’s Mayor Amarjeet Sohi says the Alberta government isn't paying their share of property taxes and that means the city might have to raise yours.

Edmonton’s mayor is taking the battle of provincial property taxes to the steps of the legislature — in a new video posted to social media — saying the Government of Alberta isn’t paying their share.

“Did you know provincial buildings in edmonton get the same quality municipal service like all other buildings — but the provincial government only pays half of the cost to deliver those municipal services. What that means is the provincial government has underpaid $80 million that they otherwise would have paid to the City of Edmonton,” said Sohi in the social media video.

From social media Thursday to a Friday morning federal housing announcement, Sohi continued his message to the province and especially to Edmontonians, as he claims the province is not paying its full share of property tax impacts yours.

“If this doesn’t change, then we’re going to continue to rely on property taxes going up on the rest of the property owners in the City of Edmonton and it’s not fair.”

This comes as Edmonton city council will have tough conversations around the budget this fall because of a $90 million budget shortfall.

CityNews reached out to Alberta’s Ministry of Municipal Affairs for its reaction to mayor Sohi’s social media video.

The provincial response referred to a statement they gave on August 15th — for a similar story — where they say Minister Ric McIver continues to meet with Mayor Sohi to talk funding and provincial grants in place of taxes.

Asking mayor Sohi about that response from the ministry, he says it’s not enough money.

“Since 2008, provincial infrastructure grants have declined by two-thrids So we have seen a significant decline. In the case of Edmonton, we have lost close to almost $400 million that we were expecting to get from the provincial government.”

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