Calgary council votes against 4-year property tax freeze

A few members of Calgary's city council have expressed concerns with the kinds of tax hikes and utility rate increases the city is considering.

Council discussed target rates on Wednesday, in advance of the city's four-year budget plan which will be presented in the fall.

Setting what are called indicative rates helps administration figure out what kind of revenues they have to work with when drawing up the budget.

Coun. Jeff Davison said the proposed increases are small, but he's not sure they're supportable.

"Every time the city goes out with even a one per cent increase, that hits the pocketbooks of every Calgarian and it's something that's not manageable necessarily right now for a lot of families," he said.

Council voted to approve increased indicative rates for property taxes, waste and recycling, but deferred decisions on wastewater/stormwater rates until a June meeting, saying they want further information. 

Property tax increases of $48 to $64 per year on average

Property taxes will increase between 2.65 per cent to 3.45 per cent in 2019, and from 2.5 per cent to three per cent in 2020, 2021 and 2022.

The hike would impact the average property tax bill for a median-priced home by between $48 and $64 each year — or between $4 and $5.30 each month.

For waste and recycling, black cart charges will be moved from property tax bills to monthly utility bills. Costs of black, blue and green carts are set to increase by between one and two per cent each year, to an average monthly cost for residential properties of $25.84 total by 2022, up from $19.90 this year.

Coun. Jeromy Farkas said he wants to fight for a tax freeze, a view Coun. George Chahal echoed.

"How much do we need to have in those reserve funds? And if we don't need to put money away, well that's money we should put back to make sure that we're not raising taxes on Calgarians," Chahal said.

City documents indicate a freeze on property tax rates would require spending cuts of $150 to $200 million. 

Another unknown factor is that the city is still negotiating with labour unions, meaning there could be additional expenses or savings based on whether or not staff end up taking salary cuts.

Coun. Evan Woolley argued the tax increases are modest, considering the city's growing population and the cost of inflation.

He said a freeze on property taxes would cause too much damage to city services.

"We would be losing significant front-line services including police, fire, parks, transit, you name it. That would cut very deeply to our core services. I wasn't willing to support that and the vast majority of council chose the same."

Work on the budget will continue over the next few months. Council is set to debate the four-year budget in November.

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