Talk of tax hikes and big borrowing ahead of Calgary budget discussions
CTV
Calgary councillors are set to start debating mid-cycle budget adjustments next week that include proposed property tax increases and a pair of borrowing bylaws that equal more than a billion dollars.
Calgary councillors are set to start debating mid-cycle budget adjustments next week that include proposed property tax increases and a pair of borrowing bylaws that equal more than a billion dollars.
Budget discussions for the next two years will begin on Monday morning with presentations from city administration and public input before decisions are made.
What is currently proposed is a property tax increase of 3.6 per cent overall for 2025. If approved, the rate for single-family homes would jump 3.9 per cent, while apartment owners would see their taxes hike by 10.5 per cent.
The total proposed property tax increase for non-residential properties is 1.4 per cent.
"In 2022, we looked at what our predicted inflation would look like this year. We looked at predicted population growth and we set a rate of 3.6% that the budget should not increase by more than that," said Mayor Jyoti Gondek.
"I can tell you right now, the inflation number has almost doubled and population growth has more than tripled what our forecast was at that time. So, we are in an incredibly tough situation where we are delivering on our promise," she said.
The city is also upping monthly utility fees by 3.7 per cent for a typical single residential property.
