News Detail

Driving around Edmonton might be a little smoother this year after councillors voted Tuesday to collect an extra $27.1 million in taxes for road repairs. While city property taxes will now rise about 7.2 per cent, the typical overall tax bill will still rise the 4.9 per cent council approved last December.

That’s because the provincial education tax - representing about one-third of a homeowner’s total bill - are scheduled to drop as much as 4.5 per cent.

“Edmontonians’ top infrastructure priority for new investment is LRT, but their top priority for fixing infrastructure is roads,” Mayor Don Iveson said.

“When we debriefed after the election, the one thing we all heard is our roads need work.” The new money will be used primarily for busy arterial commuter routes, but some might go to neighbourhood streets as well. The city will release a plan at the end of April to boost spending on crumbling arterials about 25 per cent, to $50 million annually.

It will take six years to return them to an acceptable average condition. Councillors voted unanimously for the increased spending. If they hadn’t taken any additional money, the average residential tax hike would have dropped to 3.3 per cent.

“It’s a tax increase to fix the roads, that’s the premise,” Iveson said. “If there’s one thing Edmontonians will almost unanimously support increasing their taxes for, it’s for basic infrastructure that allows us to move around the city.”

Councillors also allocated $13.5 million to new projects from money that wasn’t spent last year, work that cost less than planned and other sources. The projects include buying the former Wellington school for an African multicultural centre and public library ($4.2 million) and courthouse pedway repairs ($1.8 million). Another $2.4 million will be put toward construction and design of parks at the new MacTaggart, Windermere and Ambleside schools being built by the province.

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