Calgary City Council approved its next four-year budget after a week of deliberations and amid inflationary pressures and calls from Calgarians to further invest in various initiatives.
Mayor Jyoti Gondek called it a “tight budget,” one that, despite city council’s mandate to keep increases within inflation and population growth, still contains missing elements that the mayor says are “critically needed to support Calgarians.”
“So we found a way to add them for 2023. We will continue to find a way to do better for the years after that.”
Read more:
Typical Calgary home to see 5.2 per cent property tax increase in proposed 4-year budget
Read more
-
![]()
Typical Calgary home to see 5.2 per cent property tax increase in proposed 4-year budget
On Friday, the board approved spending nearly all of the estimated $65 million in operating surpluses in the $4.2 billion 2023 budget and $75 million in capital surpluses. By contrast, the City of Edmonton expects a similar $67.8 million in operating surpluses.
Chief Financial Officer Carla Male said the one-time surpluses, or “positive variance,” is not recommended to go to the city’s base budget, and warned that it would create a “curfew” of consequences in future years.
“While this may provide some relief in the next year, the taxpayers will feel that increase in the year after that – we call it the ‘bow wave effect’,” said Male.
Read more:
Calgary Transit says 2 years needed to improve service as safety issues are worked on
Citywide, property taxes will see an average annual increase of 3.7 percent over the four-year term of the newly approved budget. A typical single-detached home at median value can expect an increase of 5.2 percent in 2023, or $9.83 per month.
“We were able to adjust the property tax rate down, but because property values have gone up, there is an increase in homeowners’ property taxes. But that’s to be expected, because the value of your property has gone up,” said Gondek.
While inflation in the city is about seven percent, city officials said residential properties experienced a 14 percent increase. This was almost triple the five percent non-residential properties seen.
Homeowners shoulder 52 percent of the city’s property tax bill. Through the week of debate and presentations, the council considered moving more of that stock to residential properties, but decided to delay that decision until early next year.
City council plans to appeal to the province to reduce the amount of Calgary’s property tax that goes to the legislature, and redirect more of those funds to city operations.
“We need to find out how much more Calgary pays in taxes compared to other municipalities and put that money back into the municipality’s budget,” Ward 1 Coun. Sonya Sharp said. “We know what we have to do with our money and we do it better.”
Read more:
Calgary city councilors to juggle affordability as budget debate continues
While the budget surpluses go toward a list of needs in the city, Sharp did not consider the additional items “spending.”
“It’s investing in great initiatives and giving that little boost to some of the things in the budget that didn’t get what they needed,” Sharp said.
The amendment package, introduced by Ward 12 Coun. Evan Spencer, pulls a total of $139.7 million in expected surpluses from both operating and capital budgets.
Transit fares will be frozen at 2022 levels next year at a cost of $3 million. An additional $3 million goes to cover the elimination of transportation fares for children 12 and under, and to lower the cost of weekend family passes in 2023.
Civic partners such as Vibrant Communities Calgary, Tourism Calgary, Sport Calgary, Calgary Economic Development and Calgary Arts Development Agency are getting funding increases over the four-year budget.
The city’s mental health and addiction strategy got an additional $19 million for the quadrennial budget.
“Why is this important?” Gondek said. “Because our provincial government comes to the table when we show an investment like this.”
Read more:
From transit to climate, Calgarians are talking about proposed four-year budget
Permit fees for patios and outdoor cafes – which were started early in the COVID-19 pandemic – will be charged to businesses.
The Calgary Fire Department received a $10 million increase for 2024.
One-time funding of $20 million in capital funding is earmarked for the city’s road and bike network and another $20 million for the proposed Foothills Fieldhouse, a $285.8 million project.
“The one-time money we had is going to keep communities safe, keep people well and keep organizations open that serve many people in positions of vulnerability,” the mayor said.
The downtown revitalization strategy received an infusion of cash from the city’s real estate services reserve.
“We want to make sure we get it right,” Spencer told reporters. “We’re balancing some pretty extreme priorities in terms of affordability and also making investments in the community to make sure we get where we want to go.”
And the city’s reconciliation efforts have received continued funding.
The Council also approved the original budget brought to them by administration.
In the upcoming budget cycle, the city will see investments in transit levels, public safety, parks, economic development and tourism, climate initiatives and downtown revitalization.
Read more:
Emergency services are seeking more funding in the upcoming Calgary budget
With record numbers coming out to comment on the four-year plan, Gondek thanked citizens and organizations for sharing their thoughts as part of the budget process.
“The message has been consistent,” the mayor said.
“They understood that we created a budget adjusted for inflation and population growth, to be respectful of the hardships that so many Calgarians are experiencing, but they also came to us and said, ‘It’s not enough . It’s not working.’”
She also acknowledged that the pace of change in the city has picked up.
“So many unpredictable things have come our way in the last few years and we do our best to operate in that kind of environment.”
© 2022 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
