Police funding formula — the motion, the vote, the mechanism

Original source: https://globalnews.ca/news/9914463/edmonton-city-council-police-funding-august-2023/ Additional: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/edmonton-city-council-approves-3-year-funding-formula-for-police-1.6945812 · https://edmonton.taproot.news/news/2023/09/05/three-council-members-change-position-on-police-budget-with-new-funding-formula Retrieved: 2026-07-04

The vote

Council approved the police funding formula 9–4 on August 23, 2023, covering the 2023–2026 budget cycle.

Voted FOR (9): Tim Cartmell, Sarah Hamilton, Andrew Knack, Aaron Paquette, Karen Principe, Jennifer Rice, Keren Tang, Jo-Ann Wright, and Mayor Amarjeet Sohi.

Voted AGAINST (4): Michael Janz, Erin Rutherford, Ashley Salvador, Anne Stevenson.

Note for the thesis: Knack (now Mayor) voted for the formula; Janz voted against it. Rutherford "said she agreed with the principles of the funding formula in creating consistency and certainty but was struggling to justify the yearly budget increases."

The mechanism

"Until 2026, yearly police budget = previous year's budget plus funding formula adjustment plus EPS salary settlements." The formula ties to population growth and inflation (measured via a Police Price Index), minus an efficiency factor. A cap provides the police budget cannot exceed 30% of civic department budgeted net operating expenditures. The structural point: once adopted, the increase happens automatically each year — council never has to vote a fresh increase into being.

Quotes

Cartmell: "We're going to get away from having these rhetorical conversations all the time." Rutherford: "Is a funding formula going to solve that?"