City bureaucrats told to outline $60M in cuts from Calgary budget causing 'least harm' to services

Calgary city administrators will have to determine how to cut $60 million from this year's budget, after council approved the cut as part of a plan to lower the tax bill for some commercial properties.

In a unanimous vote on Monday, council also opted to also use $71 million from reserve funds on top of the budget cut.

Both moves were part of a motion initially put forward by Coun. Shane Keating that was amended throughout the day's debate.

The intent, as voted by council, is to create a minimum 10 per cent reduction in non-residential municipal property taxes from 2018 to 2019.

The city estimates that 11,900 non-residential properties will benefit from the 2019 Municipal Phased Tax Program (PTP). There is no application process required.

• Non-residential property owners can go to calgary.ca/ptp after June 13 for information on eligibility.

Details on what will be cut are expected by next month after recommendations from city bureaucrats.

This means we're cutting five per cent of our remaining budget for 2019 in just over four weeks time.- Mayor Naheed Nenshi

The speedy timeline was a problem for Mayor Naheed Nenshi prior to Monday's vote, as he noted in a Facebook post on the weekend. And despite voting in favour of the plan put forward after debate and amendments, the mayor says he is still worried about how quickly council will have to approve cuts.

"I remain a little bit concerned," said Nenshi. "This means we're cutting five per cent of our remaining budget for 2019 in just over four weeks' time."

According to the mayor, the short timeline will mean councillors do not have the luxury of going through budget cuts line by line, as they might have done during regular budget deliberations in the winter.

"Quite frankly, my council colleagues really have to not lobby for or against certain programs," said Nenshi. "Just let administration do their job, which is not normally how we operate."

'Guiding principles' for city admin

As part of Monday's debate, Coun. Ward Sutherland proposed a set of guidelines the city's administration should follow when determining what cuts to recommend.

His proposal was passed and included a reference to causing the "least harm" to services. Sutherland's motion mentioned that the budget reductions may create a "lower level or elimination of service," and other councillors have warned that layoffs should be expected.

During Monday's meeting, city officials echoed this expectation. Chief financial officer Carla Male said there would be visible changes to front-line services for Calgarians.

Province must also address issue

Some councillors continued to call on the province to address the property tax and assessment system in Alberta — but also said they realize many business were facing big tax hikes now and could not wait for action from higher levels of government.

"We need to address the structural problem [and] that will take us working with the province," said Coun. Evan Woolley, who added that in the meantime, "we have to get our house in order and that means budget reductions."

A previous plan supported by a majority of councillors called on the province to step in with millions of dollars by reducing how much property tax it takes from the city. That request was rejected by provincial politicians, including Minister of Municipal Affairs Kaycee Madu.

As for the lowered taxes coming as a result of the expected budget cuts, affected non-residential property owners should see a downward adjustment to their tax bills no later than Aug. 1, even though property taxes were already mailed out for this year.