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Calgarians could face significant property tax hikes over the next four years, according to a confidential document city council voted to release publicly on Tuesday.
The document, which outlines a proposed budget scenario for the 2027-2030 budget cycle, proposes a 15-per-cent municipal property tax increase next year for a typical residential property assessed at the median of $706,000.
Combined with projected changes to utility fees, homeowners would pay an additional $52 a month, with that number increasing to $56 a month the following year.
City officials said a tax revenue increase is necessary to keep up with inflation, population growth and aging infrastructure.
“We don’t want this to be somebody else’s problem,” Mayor Jeromy Farkas said on Tuesday. “We want to fix the problem in the first place, and it’s going to require some proactive investment and, yes, some difficult choices.”
Mayor Jeromy Farkas said Tuesday the proposed property tax numbers are preliminary and will change as council enters into budget deliberations in November. (Brendan Coulter/CBC)
Council’s unanimous decision to release the document comes after Coun. Landon Johnston acknowledged earlier this month he leaked confidential budget documents showing preliminary discussions on the city’s four-year budget cycle.
City officials stressed the document released Tuesday is not a financial budget decision, rather it aims to identify potential areas of refinement ahead of budget deliberations in November.
Numbers not set in stone, mayor says
Farkas emphasized the numbers are still preliminary and will likely change, pointing to last year’s budget deliberations where council began with a six-per-cent property tax increase before lowering it to 1.2 per cent.
He said councillors have heard from several city departments about their needs going forward, and it will be up to council to “whittle” those numbers down.
For instance, on Monday the Calgary Police Service released its budget plan, requesting 73- and 19-per-cent increases to its capital and operating budgets, respectively, part of which would go towards hiring more than 300 additional officers by 2030.
“We’re going through a budget process where a lot of people are going to be hearing ‘no,'” Farkas said.
“For us to say yes to the need of public safety investments for police, for fire, for essential infrastructure, we need to say no to those nice-to-haves.”
WATCH | Preliminary budget doc shows city council considering 15% property tax hike:
Preliminary budget doc shows city council considering 15% tax hike
On Tuesday, Calgary councillors voted to release a confidential preliminary budget document. As CBC’s Brendan Coulter reports, city administration’s proposed approach would see a 15-per-cent property tax hike for a typical homeowner in 2027, although that number is expected to change during budget deliberations this fall.
Coun. John Pantazopoulos brought forward the motion to release the budget information, saying it will help him have more informed conversations with residents.
“Fundamentally, now I can finally have that conversation with people in Ward 6 and across Calgary and say, ‘What outcome do you want?'” he said. “And as a result of that, then we can narrow down to a conversation about percentages.”
Potential trade-offs of tax hikes
In the document, city officials pointed to the potential compromises of minimizing tax hikes.
They said an increase of less than four per cent would lead to a worse service level, while an increase of 4.2 per cent would hold the line but “defers pressure into the future,” including upgrades to critical infrastructure, emergency response expansion and transit service growth.
Coun. Kim Tyers says she doesn’t think Calgarians will support a 15-per-cent property tax hike, but she is confident council will find a way to keep taxes ‘as low as possible.’ (Brendan Coulter/CBC)
A tax hike of roughly 20 per cent next year, however, would result in improved city services, officials said on Tuesday.
But Ward 1 Coun. Kim Tyers said she does not believe Calgarians will support a 15-per-cent property tax hike, and she is confident council can find ways to keep taxes low and still address key concerns.
“It would be great if we didn’t have a tax increase, but as low as possible,” she said.
City administration will present a complete draft budget to council in November.