Edmonton’s planned 2025 property tax increase will double Calgary’s

Property taxes in Edmonton may go up 8.1 per cent in 2025, while Calgary expects their taxes to go up just 3.6 per cent.

So why is Edmonton’s expected property tax hike more than double Calgary’s?

“The way Calgary was calculating its franchise fees was different, and they had a bonanza of franchise fees toward the end of last year,” explained Tim Cartmell, councillor of Ward pihêsiwin.

Councillor Cartmell says the cost of electricity in Calgary, which has since been reduced, may have helped with the budget. While also suggesting the handling of reserve funding and the way their cities are built could play a role in the cost of service delivery.

The City of Edmonton says increases are needed to keep up with inflation and population growth, as they face a nearly $90 million budget shortfall.

But the mayor says the reason Edmonton’s budgeting challenge is bigger, traces back about a decade.

“It is a combination of lower property taxes, freezing property taxes and not budgeting properly for labour costs of negotiations with our workforce,” said Mayor Amarjeet Sohi.

Councillor Cartmell isn’t buying it, saying instead, the city is overserviced. He’s proposing more cuts are needed to maximize investment.

“We have a number of places in city administration which we’re investing in people that don’t have a direct return on investment, don’t have a direct return to the taxpayer, don’t have a direct return to the operation of the city, and we need to examine every one of those.”

Mayor Sohi says he has a proposal to invest in safety, housing affordability, services, and the economy and bring down the tax hike.

“We have made significant investments in those areas over the last three years. We want to protect those investments. We want to enhance those investments. At the same time, making sure we’re doing everything we can to manage our finances and continue to reduce the tax levy from 8.1 per cent to a reasonable amount,” said Sohi.

City leaders say they are working to keep the incoming property tax hike to 8 per cent or below. But Edmonton property tax payers won’t have a final number until early to mid-December.