The province is contributing $23 million less for public transit than the City of Edmonton expected, but the Alberta government says the city made an assumption and an exact amount wasn’t promised.
Alberta will cover 25 per cent of Phase 1 of transit projects funding, instead of the one-third share the city was banking on.
“The future of transit funding in this country can’t be the feds stepping up and the provinces stepping back,” Edmonton Mayor Don Iveson said.
“The future of transit funding in this country has to recognize, as the federal government has – and we applaud them for it – that municipalities, with maybe eight cents of your tax dollar, take on 100 per cent of the operating and maintenance costs for these systems, which are enormous and that the old formula – of a third, a third, a third – just was too much of a burden on municipalities.”
Phase 1 includes about $3.4 billion over the next couple of years for transit projects, the mayor explained. Phase 2, he said, is a larger $16.5 billion over 10 years.
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Iveson said the city will be able to find a way to make up for the shortfall, but some maintenance projects will have to be deferred.
“It just sort of sideswipes our infrastructure agenda and our attempt to look after all our assets in a state of good repair.”
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The mayor said, given the late nature of the federal government’s funding commitment, provinces might be struggling to match the contribution, especially if – like Alberta – they’re in a tough economic state.
However, Alberta’s minister of infrastructure and transportation says the city jumped the gun on what the provincial amount would be.
“The city made an assumption that it would be 33 per cent, that they would get a 17 per cent-share in the projects, but I don’t think that was a justified assumption,” Brian Mason said.
He said he’s “very pleased” by the provincial support, calling it “very generous.”
“The federal government has really stepped up with a great infrastructure program and we’re pleased to match 25 per cent of the total project cost,” Mason said.
In an email sent in June, the province told the city it was still figuring out how the final 50 per cent of the funding would be broken down.
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“Other cities, including Calgary, assumed no provincial contribution, so I think it’s interesting that the City of Edmonton assumed we’d pick up a third of the cost of these projects without hearing from us first,” Mason said.
The minister said, in more prosperous times, the support might be greater.
“If we were at a point where we had $100/barrel oil again, we could afford to perhaps be more generous, but we have a very serious financial situation facing the province of Alberta, a very large deficit.”
Iveson said he wasn’t completely surprised by the province’s decision, but called it a “frustrating step backwards.”
He is worried about how this move will affect future projects.
“My concern would be is if 50-25-25 ends up being the percentage breakdown – federal, provincial, municipal, for the $16.5 billion that’s coming over the next 10 years to actually build LRT and heavy transit across the country, then that’s just not going to work.
“I can tell you 50-25-25 would be unacceptable for Phase 2. It’s tolerable for Phase 1.”
*EDITOR’S NOTE: This article initially described the one-third contribution from the province as “traditional.” It was later changed to say “the one-third share the city was banking on.”