Calgary city council passes budget increases to address safety, housing, infrastructure

A new budget for Calgary will include investments in a wide range of programs for Calgarians and provide some relief to businesses at some cost to homeowners.

In a 9-6 vote, city council approved a 7.8 per cent increase in residential property taxes, representing an additional $16 per month for a median-priced home valued at $610,000. Councillors McLean, Wyness, Chu, Wong, Sharp and Chabot voted in opposition to the budget.

Council also approved a shift of the city’s overall tax burden towards residential properties, a trend that will continue by one per cent per year for the next three years. By 2027, residential property owners will shoulder 55 per cent of the city’s budget.

In responding to feedback from citizens, the city will invest in areas like homelessness, poverty and affordable housing, infrastructure and roads, crime and policing, and transit.

Calgary’s mayor said some of the city’s budget will go towards crises that would normally be the responsibility of the provincial and federal governments, like housing, mental health and addictions.

“We can’t wait for other orders of government to respond quickly and appropriately while we ‘wait it out’ because, simply put, they are not interested in doing the right thing right now. We still have a lot of convincing to do,” Jyoti Gondek said. “And in the meantime, there’s people who are unhoused, there are people who are unsafe and there are people who are dying in our streets. We serve those people.”

She said the budget decision sends a message.

“Your local government sees where services are desperately needed, and we won’t turn our backs on people.”

Ward 8 Coun. Courtney Walcott noted the decision to invest $154.5 million in one-time and new capital investments to address housing and homelessness comes on an auspicious day.

“Today is National Housing Day,” Walcott said. “We made an amazing, historic investment in social housing … that (sets) the stage for years to come.

“No one is ever happy about taxes, but the reality is I’ve listened to a year of demands from the public. And most of those demands are for the things that we’ve done today.”