After a decade of major economic disruptions, the city is aiming to stabilize its finances as Edmonton grapples with growth and tough fiscal decisions.

Managing the economic fallout from COVID-19 and the crash in oil prices that followed was one of many challenges the city had to meet over the past five years, while more and more people are choosing to call Edmonton home. To try to reduce the damage widespread layoffs were causing to residents, council minimized property tax increases — in 2021 property taxes weren’t raised at all. But the city’s expenses continued to pile up.

As administration explained to council on Nov. 24, this has created a series of structural budget variances (SBVs) which have eaten into the city’s Financial Stabilization Reserve (FSR), It is supposed to serve as

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