Homeowners can expect to pay more property taxes with Budget 2026

The city council and the mayor, Andrew

Knack, had braced themselves for what

they expected to be a tough budget, and

it was a tough budget for the city.

Overall funding pool for infrastructure

is shrinking along with government

revenue, and homeowners can expect to

pay more in provincial property taxes.

CTV's Jeremy Thompson is live at the

legislature with more on this. And

Jeremy, another tax bump.

Yeah, Kent, Edintonians are already

bracing for a nearly 7% property tax

bump out of city hall this year. The

legislature is now adding to that

burden. Its portion, the provincial

portion of the property tax bill is

going up by about 13% in our city.

>> I think everybody's going to have to be

um you know, reasonable or equally

disappointed.

>> The finance minister acknowledges

Alberta cities and towns will not get

everything they asked for in this

budget. Not even close.

>> I know the the needs are real. Um but

you can see where we're at with this

deficit and uh needing to continue to

prioritize.

>> Municipalities have wide ranging needs.

Edmonton asked for money for housing,

economic development, transit safety

upgrades, affordability measures, and

infrastructure. The pot of provincial

dollars for major projects shrinks by

$24 million in 2026.

>> We're all feeling the pinch obviously

and we are in this together. There are

revenues linked um on LGFF. As I

mentioned,

>> while the province is giving less, it's

taking more. The average Edmonton

homeowner will pay $154

more in provincial property taxes this

year, a 13% increase. That's on top of

the tax bump city council approved in

December. On average, tax bills will go

up by nearly $400.

>> The increase that they're asking for,

we'll happily collect that and make sure

we remit it to them. uh and knowing that

that's going to go to to good

investment. Uh but we also need to

remind people that that's actually not

going to the city to provide municipal

services.

>> The province is maintaining spending on

major projects it already committed to

like LRT expansion. It's also spending

an extra $13 million on the event park

coming next to Rogers Place.

>> As we move along here, I I honestly

would expect we'll see less of those

things as we continue to have to

prioritize health and education. At the

end of the day, I'm not interested in

nice to haves. I'm interested in making

sure we can maintain and and fix all of

the infrastructure that we have. We have

a large infrastructure deficit that's

existed for a number of years.

>> Now, there is one olive branch for

Edmonton in it in this budget, a $20

million top up to the grant that the

province pays municipalities uh instead

of property tax uh property taxes it

would otherwise pay for provincial

buildings in those communities. Uh this

top up comes after the province cut that

grant down to about 50% for 5 years. And

this now makes uh those cities and towns

whole now. Uh the uh the finance

minister says this was only in the

budget because Premier Danielle Smith

herself made sure that it was Kent.

>> Okay. Now Jeremy, there was a bit of a a

jump scare in the budget for fans of the

old Royal Alberta Museum building.

>> Yeah, that's right. There's a a $30

million line in this budget uh labeled

for demolition of the old Royal Alberta

Museum. Uh and viewers might know that

there's actually an ongoing process to

see if that building uh can be

repurposed or uh redeveloped in some

way. The finance minister does say that

process is still ongoing and there are

no immediate plans to demolish the old

ram. He says it's important to just

budget for that dem demolition just in

case. Kent.

>> Okay, Jeremy. Thank you.