Stopping speeders and Whitemud widening top priorities on last day of budget talks

Property tax increases are holding at 6.9 per cent after Edmonton councillors rubber stamped widening of Whitemud Drive and approved funding for more traffic enforcement on their last day of budget talks.

After four days of debate, council voted 11-2 to pass the amended operating and capital budgets, with Couns. Michael Elliott and Karen Principe voting against.

“I campaigned on the fact we need to protect our public services and at the same time we need to work towards a more affordable city,” said Mayor Andrew Knack. “This is the last of a four-year budget and a lot of this was pre-determined.

“This pendulum that has been swinging from the last four-year budget where we have the lowest property tax increases in the last 25 years to some of the highest in the last decade — that has to stop — and that will stop with this budget because we’ve addressed a lot of the structural budget variances that have been existing for decades.

Knack’s call to fund a new $5.8 million traffic safety enforcement team using fine revenue was passed 8-5.

He pointed out city council is unable to direct the Edmonton Police Service to step up traffic enforcement on its own and the city is limited by provincial law on how much it can fine problem drivers, so more enforcement is the only tool the city had available.

“This team is something I think is desperately needed to help address safety on our streets,” said Knack. “This is something I was asked about over and over again. People talked about safety in every community. Traffic safety was one of the No. 1 issues.

“It’s critical that we’re starting this.”

Because it will take some time to hire and train the peace officers, motorists won’t see the new unit on the roads until this time next year.

Safe mobility director Jessica Lamare told council the a similar unit in Calgary has stayed close to cost neutral after seven months of operations. Chief bylaw officer David Jones told council the peace officers will focus on traffic enforcement and not look for other criminal behaviour at road stops. He added peace officers and police use the same radio system so any serious issues would be picked up by the cops.

If the team has an impact, council will discuss bringing the project into the city’s permanent budget.

EPS told Postmedia Edmonton has seen 31 traffic fatalities in 2025 to date, nearly a threefold increase from 12 in 2020. Speed was a factor in 13 of those.

A report from administration found there has been an 87.3 per cent spike in vehicles speeding up to 29 kilometres per hour over the speed limit and a 65.8 per cent increase in drivers going faster than a 30 km/h posted limit.

Earlier this year the province made changes to traffic safety rules, including rules restricting municipalities from using photo radar enforcement. The province is floating the idea of increasing speed limits on provincial highways as well.

Knack said he will keep advocating for the province to reverse those decisions, noting the city’s administration has identified 16 problematic intersections in the city and forwarded that information up the appropriate channels.

“My hope is they’re going to look at the data,” he said. “All elected representatives should be making data informed decisions. The data shows that traffic speeds are substantially higher on Edmonton roads than they’ve been for a long time. That is clearly a result of the lack of consequences for people’s actions.

“It can sound like hyperbole but it’s not — this a matter of life or death. We are seeing more deaths on our streets and it is a direct result of higher speeds on our roads.”

Councillors narrowly approved a motion from Coun. Thu Parmar by 7-6 to add $7.3 million to the Whitemud Drive from Lewis Estates Boulevard to 231 Street and 215 Street widening project in conjunction with the province and Enoch Cree Nation. Each party agreed to cover one-third of the costs on Sept. 16 to a total of $9.3 million. The project will expand the roadway to the River Cree Casino complex. Enoch Cree is handling the Chief Lapotac Boulevard to Whitemud Drive portion of the project.

“This is the first example where the provincial government has come to the table in advance,” said Knack. “I’m worried what would happen if we said no to this in our ability to secure funding.

“At the end of the day this is a project that we do need to to do. This is very much one of those top five priorities because it’s connected to all those other bodies of work that need to happen.”

Funding for the city’s end of the project is being pulled from the financial stabilization reserve, so the initial decision won’t impact property taxes. However, once the project is completed the asset will be turned over to the city, which will add to future maintenance costs.

“We talk a a lot about Indigenous reconciliation, but when they actually come and ask us for funding I think it’s really important that we look deep down inside how we can help,” said Parmar in support of her motion. “This is a need, not a want. When Enoch Cree Nation thrives, so does Edmonton. This is a partner road.”

Couns. Michael Elliott, Michael Janz, Karen Principe, Erin Rutherford, Jo-Anne Wright and Ashley Salvador voted against the motion.

Coun. Anne Stevenson put forward a motion to pull $2 million from the city’s funds for insurance settlements and put it towards the tax levy, which passed 7-6, Council then elected to redirect the money towards a COVID-19 era ETS cleaning program.

Saying it’s less expensive to pay out bills once, Coun. Aaron Paquette proposed to put $38.8 towards the city’s structural deficits and $15 million to the pay-as-you-go fund from taxes, the first was defeated 10-3 with Couns. Janz and Rutherford supporting the idea. The second was defeated 9-4, with Coun. Stevenson joining in support.

Council will have one more opportunity to review the budget in the spring before assessments are sent out.

ebowling@postmedia.com

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