EDMONTON – Good news for Edmonton motorists: millions more will be spent on fixing city roads this year and next.
That’s due to additional resources being found in the education portion of the property-tax bill, since education taxes won’t be as high as previously forecasted.
Because of that, $27.1 million will be directed to roads to be spent in 2014 and 2015. The tax hike will remain at 4.9 per cent. Had council decided not to redirect the extra money, the tax increase would have been around 3.25 per cent.
“We heard loud and clear from citizens and businesses that they want an investment in our roads,” said Mayor Don Iveson.
“They want roads that they can be proud of. We know that we all need to ante up for that. People said, ‘If you’re going to raise my taxes to do anything, do it to fix roads.'”
Before Tuesday’s decision, $39 million was already set aside for arterial road repairs. An estimated $50 million a year is needed to properly maintain the road network.
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