Edmonton city council begins final budget deliberations

As Edmonton city council kicks off budget adjustment deliberations this week, Edmonton’s mayor says he’s putting forth a plan to shave 2 per cent off a planned 8.1 per cent property tax increase.

“I put together a plan that council will consider, that will bring the tax levy down to below 6 per cent from 8.1 per cent,” said Mayor Amarjeet Sohi.

“I think what we need to do is go back to what we did in 2008/2009, where we actually did a line by line analysis, of every department.”

Councillor and mayoral candidate Tim Cartmell told media at city hall Monday that he’s willing to work with Mayor Sohi to bring down the proposed property tax increase, but adds the City needs to re-prioritize what it funds.

“Percentages don’t tell the story. Even if 8.1 goes to 6.6 or 5.6 that is still roughly 30 per cent in three years and that is a lot of money,” said Cartmell.

Council continues budget deliberations on Tuesday.