Sohi Wants Province to Pay ‘Fair Share’ of Property Taxes
The City of Edmonton has launched a public campaign to get the Alberta government to pay full property taxes.
Edmonton Mayor Amarjeet Sohi says the province has paid just 50% of its property taxes since 2019 and avoided paying $80 million.
The Fair Compensation Project is designed to get Edmonton residents better informed about services that the city provides to the province.
“Most people don’t have a choice not to pay their property taxes, but the Alberta government is choosing not to pay their fair share,” said Sohi.
“Provincial buildings get the same quality municipal services that all buildings receive, but (the province) only pays half the cost,” said Sohi during a news conference.,
The provincial government provides grants in place instead of paying the remaining 50%. Sohi charged that recovery of the $80-million shortfall would enable the city to reduce its $34-million deficit and minimize property-tax increases.
Heather Jenkins, press secretary for Municipal Affairs Minister Ric McIver, told Postmedia that he has met with Sohi to discuss his funding requests and committed to review grants in places of taxes in the 2025 budget.
And, under the 2024 budget, the province “continues to implement the Local Government Fiscal Framework, which includes $337 million over two years for the City of Edmonton.”
Jenkins also told Postmedia that the 2024 budget supports the city’s capital projects with $2.2 billion over three years in funding for road, bridge and transit projects, “and an additional $800 million over the next three years for health, school, and government facilities.”
Some other rural municipalities in Northern Alberta near Edmonton have also launched a program designed to get the province to pay more in municipal property taxes instead of deploying the grants-in-place program.
Photo: Shutterstock