Faced with a lot less money to work with in the 2020 budget, Edmonton city councillors are pouring over numbers and ideas to cut spending. Many citizens, including business owners and seniors, are demanding it.
“They’re pushing us out of business at this rate,” said Konstantinos Blounas, who owns an industrial park along 231 Street in the Winterburn area.
READ MORE: Edmonton business owner raises concerns with property tax increases
Blounas said he paid $368,000 in property taxes in June, and after meeting with city assessors this year, hears that in 2020, they’ll be sitting north of $400,000. He said he can’t pass along the tax hike to his tenants in the industrial park because they can’t afford it and would simply leave.
“We cannot keep up.”
Councillor Andrew Knack intends on going as low as possible.
“This feels like if there ever was a year to try to be as close to zero as possible, this is the year that we need to be willing to make some sacrifices in our operations and service standards to be able to achieve that.”
A year ago, before agreeing to four years of annual 2.6 per cent increases, council asked for a list of things to cut that, on a sliding scale, would reduce spending anywhere in millions of dollars that equate to a one- to five-per cent tax decrease.
Summary of Potential Savings Strategies from the 2019-2022 budget discussions by Emily Mertz on Scribd
Some, like expecting police to be more efficient, are off the table this year because the EPS is already cutting due to a decrease in funds from the province.
Others are examples of added cost recovery, ranging from employees (where they would charge them more for parking), to non-profit agencies (by scaling back grants and subsidies), or eliminating discounts on facilities.
One $6-million suggestion would see the city “stop providing services that are deemed to be the legislative responsibility of other orders of government,” the 2018 report said.
The 2018 budget report lists a total potential savings of $42 million, however some categories are already off limits because of council decisions, like backing away from calcium chloride for snow and ice control on Edmonton’s roads.
“The easiest thing to say is: ‘Yes, of course I want a zero per cent tax increase.’ Whoever wants a tax increase?” Knack said.
“It’s something entirely different to put forward the motion that says this is one of the things we’re going to change that will actually help us get there.
“If we’re not willing to put forward the motions to back up our words, then the words essentially will be meaningless.”
He told Global News he’d like to put forward a motion that would by default add all sorts of budget cuts, forcing councillors who want to spend to justify adding those line items back into the budget.
According to data compiled by the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce, there were 30,500 businesses in Edmonton listed earlier this week, down from 34,000 businesses in 2018.
The dashboard data supplied also shows in the first nine months of 2019, there were 117 businesses going bankrupt and being unable to pay creditors, compared to 112 in 2018 and 96 in 2017.
Fewer commercial real estate properties are moving now compared to earlier. Sales activity is 145 units for the first 10 months this year, compared to 166 for the first 10 months of last year.
“There is a spending problem,” Blounas said.
He intends on being at city hall for the budget public hearing on Dec. 5.
“All these tax hikes they cannot pass on to us because we cannot survive. If this continues, we will be out of business.”
After council hears from the public, debate on the budget document itself begins Dec. 11.
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