Calgary City Council makes key investments in housing, transit and public safety

CALGARY - Today, Council approved adjustments to The City of Calgary's service plans and budgets. These adjustments balance the desire to keep property tax and water, sewer and waste and recycling fee increases as affordable as possible for Calgarians while making meaningful investments in priority areas, such as affordable housing, public safety, and transit.

“This is about more than just making changes to a budget. Together, we are ensuring every dollar spent creates the most value for our community and the people who live here,” said Chief Administrative Officer David Duckworth. “Council’s decisions today will have positive and tangible impacts on the quality of life for Calgarians and businesses as we continue to grow as a city.”

Key investments include:

· To respond to the housing crisis, $90 million in capital funding, $27 million in annual ongoing funding and $54.5 million in 2024 one-time funding

· To deliver on a comprehensive, long-term strategy to improve transit and community safety, $15 million in annual ongoing funding and $2 million in 2024 one-time funding

· For a permanent commitment to the delivery of Calgary’s Mental Health and Addictions Strategy, $6 million in annual ongoing funding

· To sustain the Calgary Fire Department’s improvements to emergency response, $3.4 million in annual ongoing funding

Tax share and rate implications

In response to some of the challenges for businesses and our local economy, Council also approved a three-year plan to better balance taxes between business owners and homeowners, moving us closer to other big cities in Canada, which all have a lower tax responsibility for businesses. Council shifted 1 per cent of the tax responsibility from businesses to homeowners each year in 2024, 2025 and 2026, which will lead to a more diverse local economy, stimulate economic growth, create jobs, expand the economy, and provide a stable revenue stream for The City.

Using sound financial management, Council leveraging the projected positive operating variance, prudent use of reserves, investment income and other non-tax sources to partially offset the tax increase and put forward capital dollars to get projects done that Calgarians rely on. Total municipal costs for the median house with a value of $610,000 are approved to increase by approximately $16 per month (just under 5 per cent), helping to address the housing crisis, improve transit and public safety. This includes a 7.8 per cent property tax increase for homeowners and fees for water, sewer and waste and recycling remaining about the same. For more information, please visit calgary.ca/adjustments.

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