Mayor Knack says Edmonton police budget stays on formula despite split budget feedback

Edmonton will stick with its council-approved police funding formula for now, Mayor Andrew Knack said Wednesday, even though a city-wide budget survey found residents deeply divided on whether the force should receive the funding it currently gets.

The city surveyed roughly 12,000 people over several months using online and in-person methods. When asked to make budget trade-offs in a simplified exercise, close to 60% of participants took money from police funding to help balance the budget. Nearly 40% took 10% or more from the police budget.

Policing ranked third overall among service categories for polarizing responses. Only 13% of businesses responding to open-ended questions believed the city should spend more on police. In contrast, policing came up repeatedly during in-person sessions and online surveys as an area where residents called for cuts.

Coun. Michael Janz of Ward Papastew has asked about reopening the funding model for Edmonton Police Service. "I hear from businesses and residents and others that there are certain functions that they absolutely want the police for, and others that they don't," Janz told reporters Tuesday. He said survey results showing residents want "generously funded" police "maybe not as much, and putting that funding towards other services to mitigate crime and calls for service" aligns with what he's hearing on the ground.

Edmonton Police Service spokesperson Aminah Syed pushed back on the survey's weight as a decision tool. The survey, she said, asked participants to make trade-offs within a simplified exercise requiring dollars be reallocated across limited municipal services. Participants were not asked whether they would accept service level impacts that could accompany reductions. EPS ranked as one of the highest-rated service areas by Edmontonians, Syed said, "suggesting residents would like service levels, at a minimum, to be maintained."

Knack said the budget tool was "not a statistically significant sample." When door-knocking, he added, safety is residents' top concern and most want police well-funded. "I think there is a time where we need to actually have a conversation about broader community safety work," Knack said. "I don't want to shy away from that."

The Edmonton Police Service budget increase for 2025 is set under the council-approved funding formula, which provides predictable funding within the four-year budget cycle.