CBC Radioactive - where do your city taxes go?

Yesterday Mark and I discussed where our city taxes go and what we're actually paying for.

I met with the city of Edmonton's CFO, Craig Warnock to find out exactly where and how our hard earned tax dollars are being allocated. And if it's a tough pill to swallow paying that ever increasing property tax bill this spring, perhaps it will help if you knew (it lessened the complaining a bit for me) how our money is being spent.

Of the total operating budget for the city of Edmonton ($1.6 billion), $827 million is from taxes. And did you know (I didn't), of all the taxes we pay, provincial income tax and federal tax combined with our property taxes, only 4% of the total tax we pay is received by our city.

• Our municipal taxes are used to fund things such as police, emergency services, transit, roads, libraries and more.
• 17 cents of every dollar goes to policing - the highest cost.
• 12 cents of every dollar to transit - one City Counsel's top mandates is public transportation and creating LRT nodes on high density sites around town.
• 12 cents of every dollar goes to fire and emergency services
• 11 cents of every dollar to roads.
• 10 cents of every dollar to park and community services.
• Of the 7.3% tax hike we're facing this year, 2% of the tax increase is being used to fund neighbourhood renewal - a proactive approach the city's using to protect and repair the city's infrastructure before it becomes more costly down the road (they tell me that something as simple as applying a sealant to a neighbourhood's sidewalk could save thousands down the road)
• The city's revenue - 52% from taxes and 48% from other sources (Epcor payments, user fees from transit and recreational centres, investments, etc.)
• And due to the recession, we're saving on infrastructure costs as the city was estimating 2009 building costs to increase by 15% but have actually dropped by 10% thus saving us taxpayers nearly 25%.

Love your taxes or absolutely hate paying them, ensure to get them in on time. If you miss the June 30th deadline, you'll pay a whopping 6% penalty on July 1st and 1% per month from August to December.

If you have a suggestion for the city or question, please post it here and/or contact your local counsellor and let your voice be known. It does make a difference!