Edmontonians will be on the hook for upgrades to back alleys, even if they don’t have one.
On Wednesday, the city’s Transportation Committee voted in favour of rolling the cost of back alley repairs into the neighbourhood renewal program, which is supported by all Edmonton homeowners through a dedicated portion of property taxes.
The repair work will cost $18 million a year, which amounts to a 0.29 per cent increase to the tax levy to fund the program. The goal is to renew all city alleys by 2048.
When asked why all Edmontonians would be on the hook for the work, Mayor Don Iveson said the dollar amount would work out in the end because it’s actually more expensive to do snow removal in areas without back alleys.
“It was estimated at one point that it costs 10 times as much for us to do snow removal in neighbourhoods that don’t have back alleys,” Iveson said. “You have to actually pile it up in the middle of roads and come and get it later, you have to scoop out driveways.
“At the end of the day I was convinced that it’ll all come out in the wash. We’re talking about pennies, ultimately, a year per home owner.”
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City staff blamed the city’s 32-tonne garbage trucks for causing much of the breakdown.
Councillors were told two-thirds of the alleys in some areas are so pothole-ridden they get an “F” for quality.
With files from Vinesh Pratap, Global News.