This fall, the City of Edmonton released its Fiscal Gap Report (FGR), an extensive report that shares the municipality’s financial landscape. It gives insights into how cities are funding, addresses concerns, and explains the complexities of long-term financial planning. The FGR is 159 pages long, but you can read this article from the Real Estate News Exchange if you want a summarized version.
Here are some alarm bells we felt worth sharing that were sounded by the FGR:
- Property taxes account for a high and growing percentage of total municipal revenue and are increasingly more dependent on this revenue. Twenty-five years ago, it was 46%; now, it’s 59%.
- There is a declining competitiveness in attracting non-residential development compared to neighbouring communities. “As property tax reliance grows amid stagnating non-residential development, Edmonton Risks entering a taxation death spiral,” states the Real Estate News Exchange article.
- The City of Edmonton’s recent suggestion of another massive tax increase is another alarm bell. The root cause of this tax increase is that the City has a spending problem. We need the City Council and the Mayor to be willing to reduce services and spending and make the tough decisions needed.
Read the full article here: https://renx.ca/sounding-the-alarm-property-taxes-and-municipal-sustainability