Latest news with #AlbertaMunicipalities
CBC
30-04-2025
- Business
- CBC
City council approves 5.7% tax increase, wants education levy split from property tax
Edmonton city council finalized the municipal property tax increase at 5.7 per cent Wednesday, while council members pointed fingers at the province for an increase in its education tax. Council passed a motion on Wednesday to have city administration work with Alberta Municipalities to explore how to separate the provincial education tax collection from municipal property tax. The motion was put forward by Coun. Michael Janz and passed 9-4 with Tim Cartmell, Sarah Hamilton, Karen Principe and Jennifer Rice voting against the motion. The motion initially included another directive that Mayor Amarjeet Sohi send an invoice to the Alberta government for the entire education property tax collection cost but it was struck from the motion before the final vote. "We frequently get told to stay in our lane, and I'm growing increasingly frustrated that we are, as municipalities, kind of the proverbial punching bag," Janz told council. "We've been advocating for the province to pay their grants in lieu of taxes. We've been advocating for the province to pay a number of things that are costs that we bear for them." Education tax In Canada, public education is the responsibility of provincial governments. The provincial education portion of property taxes, about $98 per month or 25 per cent of the total property tax bill for a typical single detached property, goes to fund schools in Alberta, according to the City of Edmonton. The municipal and provincial education taxes change at different rates each year, and are added together to make up the total tax amount property owners must pay. The tax makes up 29 per cent of the education operating budget. But the provincial government has said it wants to raise the tax so it would make up 31.5 per cent of that funding in fiscal 2025 and 33 per cent in fiscal 2026. Sohi said he wants the financial breakdown to be clear for Edmontonians. "The principle should be, the government responsible for taxing people should be sending them the bill to collect that tax, not another order of government," Sohi said. "We are required to collect taxes on behalf of the province that directly go to the province, but city council gets the blame for that tax, particularly at a time when people are struggling with the affordability crisis." CBC has requested further comment from the Ministry of Municipal Affairs. Tax increase With the 5.7 per cent increase, a homeowner will pay about $763 in municipal taxes in 2025 for every $100,000 of assessed home value, an increase of $51 from 2024. The median assessed value for a home in Edmonton is $465,500 this year, which would have a $3,550 bill in annual property taxes. "Eighty per cent of the services that people consume on a daily basis are delivered with that $3,550 that we collect to run a municipality. But people don't make that distinction, that one-quarter goes to the province," Sohi said. Property taxes in 2025 will generate more than $2.2 billion to fund the 70 city services, including parks, trails, roads, bridges, transit, recreation centres, attractions, emergency services and social supports. The 5.7 per cent increase is lower than the 6.1 per cent increase that council approved in December. Council's motion will be brought forward as a resolution during Alberta Municipalities's fall convention this year.
CBC
14-04-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Do Alberta municipalities want a provincial police force?
The Alberta government has introduced new legislation to amend the Police Act, making it easier to establish a provincial police force. Alberta Municipalities president Tyler Gandam joins Edmonton AM's Mark Connolly to discuss whether it's the solution to emergency response times and other issues facing policing in small municipalities.
CBC
14-04-2025
- Politics
- CBC
A testicular cancer survivor shares his story
The Alberta government has introduced new legislation to amend the Police Act, making it easier to establish a provincial police force. Alberta Municipalities president Tyler Gandam joins Edmonton AM's Mark Connolly to discuss whether or not this is the solution to emergency response times and other issues facing policing in small municipalities across the province.
CBC
09-04-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Alberta government moves to eliminate municipal codes of conduct
Social Sharing Alberta Municipal Affairs minister Ric McIver introduced a new bill Tuesday that would automatically repeal all municipal codes of conduct as soon as it is proclaimed into law. Bill 50, the Municipal Affairs Statutes Amendment Act, proposes changes to three existing laws: Local Authorities Election Act, the Municipal Government Act, and the New Home Buyer Protection Act. Amendments to the Municipal Government Act in early 2015 compelled municipal councils across Alberta to pass codes of conduct by 2018. But McIver said they have since become a tool for councillors to target other members of council. "Most municipalities get along just fine and behave well and serve their citizens without a whole bunch of interpersonal drama," he said at a news conference Tuesday. "But there's been more than enough instances of people using the bylaws as weapons, weaponizing them, if you will, and they're trying to silence people that disagree with them that are on council." McIver is proposing an external third party, like an ethics or integrity commissioner, become the arbiter of breaches but he wants to consult with municipalities first. Such a change would also relieve the chief administrative officers of municipalities of the responsibility of having to resolve disputes. McIver said the current situation puts these officials in an awkward position because they are hired, evaluated and can be fired by councillors. "It's not a fair position to put them in," he said. "So we're going to try to fix that too." Other measures in the bill include a change that would allow municipal political parties to share campaign funding with their candidates and compel them to disclose their donors before election day in October. The bill also proposes a temporary measure to allow Jasper residents to vote or run in the municipal election even while they are displaced by last summer's wildfire. The government plans to keep these amendments in place for the fall municipal election and through 2026 just in case there is a byelection. The provision is to expire by Dec. 31, 2026. Political donation disclosure The proposal to eliminate municipal codes of conduct follows some high-profile cases where councillors used the rules against another council member. Last year, Linnsie Clark, the mayor of Medicine Hat, was stripped of some of her powers and given a pay cut for failing to treat the city manager with "courtesy, dignity and respect" at a council meeting in 2023. A Court of King's Bench judge later ruled that the sanctions were not in proportion to her code of conduct breaches and reversed most of them. Last year, members of Alberta Municipalities passed a resolution moved by the Town of Rocky Mountain House to set up an independent office of integrity to investigate code of conduct breaches. Edmonton Coun. Andrew Knack is concerned that there will be a period of time between the repeal of the codes of conduct and the enactment of what replaces them. "I don't want to be closed-minded to it," he said. "If they have a good system that has clear standards across the province, then that might actually be a really good thing. I want to give him the benefit of the doubt on this particular issue." Knack is more concerned with the rules for candidate donation disclosures. While Bill 50 will require political parties to disclose their donations before the election, there isn't a similar provision for individual candidates or third-party advertisers. Knack said the new system imposed by the province hurts candidates who choose to run independently. He says political parties can still get more donations from corporations and numbered companies.
CBC
07-03-2025
- Business
- CBC
Alberta government recalibrating response to U.S. tariffs, says Premier Danielle Smith
Social Sharing The Alberta government is determining its next steps after a tumultuous week in which the United States introduced steep tariffs then pulled back on them two days later, Premier Danielle Smith said Friday. "The implementation of tariffs earlier this week represented a monumental shift in our relationship with the United States," Smith said during a speech at the Alberta Municipalities spring summit and municipal caucus meeting in Edmonton. "We are still sorting through what this reprieve looks like." The province is determining whether to change its countermeasures in response. More details will be released later Friday, Smith added. On Wednesday, Alberta announced it would stop buying American alcohol and halt contracting with U.S. companies in response to sweeping tariffs imposed the day before. The measures also included a halt on purchasing VLT machines from the U.S., an expense that amounts to about $100 million annually, Smith said Friday. In a partial climbdown on Thursday, President Donald Trump said he is pausing tariffs on some Canadian goods until April 2, offering a reprieve from across-the-board 25 per cent tariffs. "It's very frustrating.… The tariffs were unjustified and they're illegal," Smith said. Smith said the unpredictability of Trump's plans has already created an "administrative and technical nightmare" for many Alberta operators and exporters reliant on the American supply chain. She said she had spoken with a beef exporter in southern Alberta who owed hundreds of thousands of dollars for the three days that tariffs were in place. The reprieve, she added, would require another load of paperwork for products that were not tariffed but are not registered. "There was no incentive to register before because it was a zero rate," she said. "So businesses are going to have to get in touch with their lawyers to figure out how to file all that paperwork in order to be able to enjoy the zero per cent tariff rate." She said Albertans and Canadians must remain steadfast in the face of the escalating trade war. Governments need to break down internal trade barriers and encourage consumers across the country to support Canadian businesses, she said. "We expect things to change very quickly," she said.
