Four years of 4-5% tax increases pitched in Edmonton draft budget
Posted November 2, 2026 2:56 pm.
Property taxes are likely going up the next four years in a row in Edmonton.
That’s what managers who run the city are planning in a draft budget released Monday at Edmonton City Hall.
Taxes would increase between four and five per cent to 2030.
For next year, that would be 4.9 per cent for the average property owner for a home worth about $492,000. That’s $335 a month, or about $18 more than last year.
“Yeah, it’s a bit of back to basics,” said city manager Eddie Robar. “I call it a not sexy budget.”
Robar says the city is focusing on what Edmontonians told them they wanted in a recent survey.
“We’ve heard loud and clear about snow clearing, grass cutting, all the things that I keep telling people when you walk out your front door you wanna see a well-managed city,” he said. “It’s the stuff you see every single day.
“If you can’t do those things well, the trust and confidence of Edmontonians isn’t gonna be there to do the bigger things that we need to do, like the bridge repairs and things like that.”
More money is also being set aside for economic development, including a tax cut for industrial properties to help them set up shop in the city, and $44 million for repairs to the High Level Bridge when construction starts next summer.
Robar says the tax increases his administration is recommending are lower than what was projected before.
“From a fiscal sustainability or perspective, it definitely addresses that work in trying to push our tax rate down year over year,” the city manager said.
Even with this plan, the city says they are spending more money than they are bringing in.
Some plans to fix that: raising fares for buses and rec centres.
City council now has three weeks to go through this draft plan to determine whether or not they want to approve it or add or cut some items.
