December 4, 2025
City Council concluded fall budget adjustment discussions today, approving a number of changes resulting in a 6.9 per cent property tax increase for 2026. The approved adjustments allow the City to address budget challenges and continue delivering the 70 services and over 200 construction projects in the 2023-2026 budget.
“The adjustments approved today show Council’s commitment to protecting our core services and responding to the financial realities that the City is facing,” said Mayor Andrew Knack. “There’s little wiggle room in the last year of a four-year budget but Council has made some important investments to support the economy, public safety and transit.”
Since 2023, the City has made adjustments to the 2023-2026 budget in response to challenges like inflationary pressures, rapid population growth and evolving service needs. These budget challenges have made service delivery much more expensive than what was forecast when the four-year budget was developed and approved in 2022.
“We’re navigating some challenging economic times, but we remain focused on delivering the services that over a million Edmontonians rely on every day, and the construction projects they need now and in the future,” said Eddie Robar, City Manager. “It takes a lot of people, time and equipment to keep a city running, and all those things cost more now. We’ve made some necessary changes to our budget today aimed at responding to budget challenges without significantly impacting our services and the people we serve.”
This year’s adjustment has focused on addressing structural budget variances, which are specific services that have been consistently costing more or not bringing in as much revenue as budgeted, largely due to high prices, rapid population growth and changing service needs. Council approved several revenue increases and spending reductions to bring the budget in line with what it actually costs to deliver services now. These changes did not impact the 2026 tax requirement:
- Increasing budgets for some services that are consistently costing more, like animal care and control, facility cleaning, Dedicated Accessible Transit Service (DATS), spring street sweeping and vandalism repairs.
- Increases to user fees in animal care and control, fire rescue services, land development and transit, to help the City recover some of its higher costs from people who directly use those services.
- Spending reductions across the corporation.
Council approved some additions to the budget, including:
- $11.0 million in ongoing funding for Explore Edmonton to support their work to attract major events and tourism dollars to the city, which increased the tax levy.
- $9.3 million in one-time funding to support improvements to Whitemud Drive.
- $5.8 million in ongoing funding for more peace officers to support traffic safety.
- $2.7 million in ongoing funding to enhance bus cleaning.
- $1.6 million in one-time funding to develop a River Valley trail strategy.
Council also approved that $12.7 million in one-time revenues and savings be used to help restore a key reserve, the Financial Stabilization Reserve (FSR) to its minimum balance. The FSR is used to offset one-time financial pressures, such as deficits. It was drawn below its minimum balance in 2023 and 2024 to address deficits, and must be restored so it’s ready to support the challenging times ahead.
“We’ve made progress in responding to the financial challenges we face this budget cycle,” said Stacey Padbury, Chief Financial Officer and Deputy City Manager of Financial and Corporate Services. “These challenges are complex and will take time and tough decisions to manage. We’ll continue to work on them through 2026 and through the next budget cycle.”
Council also approved several capital adjustments, adding $123.4 million to the capital budget. The adjustments include:
- $26.4 million in new Neighbourhood Renewal reserve funding for 2027 and beyond.
- $25.2 million for 25 new buses to provide regular bus service in three high-growth areas.
- $23.1 million of additional funding to build two new fire stations and an emergency communications centre.
- $24.1 million in new funding for the development of new school sites, a district park project in Windermere, demolition of the Argyll Velodrome, and the Rossdale Power Plant roof replacement.
- $15.2 million for various transit projects to leverage available grants from the Canada Public Transit Fund.
- $7.7 million in additional funding for 137 Avenue and Anthony Henday Drive Ramps.
The changes increase the $11.3 billion capital budget by one per cent. The City will continue to deliver on more than 200 projects in the 2023-2026 capital budget that Council approved in December 2022, including LRT expansion projects, the Yellowhead Trail Freeway Conversion, the Lewis Farms Recreation Centre, rehabilitating the High Level Bridge, Housing Accelerator Fund projects and the expansion of the Active Transportation network.
The annual tax increase will affect individual property owners differently, depending on how their property’s assessed value compares to the market. An average Edmonton household would pay about $816 in property taxes for every $100,000 of their assessed home value in 2026. This is an increase of $53 more than in 2025. Property owners will learn about their assessment in January 2026 and will receive their tax notice in May 2026.
The fall supplemental operating and capital budget adjustments are part of the City Council-approved multi-year budgeting approach. Adjustments are scheduled each year so the City can respond to significant changes that have happened since the four-year budget was set in 2022. Council will confirm the tax levy next April and discuss a final adjustment to the 2023-2026 capital budget next June.
The City is entering the final year of the 2023-2026 budget. Next year, the City will do extensive public engagement with Edmontonians as it builds the next four-year budget. Council will debate and approve the 2027-2030 budget next fall.
