Council Priorities approved for 2015 - 2018

Late in the evening on Monday, May 6, Calgary City Council approved Council Priorities which will provide the necessary direction to administration to build their 2015 – 2018 business plans and budgets, Action Plan 2015 - 2018. Additionally, Council set indicative rates and fees for taxes, Utilities, Drainage and Waste & Recycling Services. The recovery rates for user fees were also approved.

Council Priorities for 2015 – 2018 are very closely aligned to the top priority areas identified in the Action Plan citizen engagement in March. Council Priorities encompass five key themes:

A prosperous city – Calgary continues to grow as a magnet for talent, a place where there is opportunity for all, and the best place in Canada to start and grow a business.
A city of inspiring neighbourhoods – Every Calgarian lives in a safe, mixed and just neighbourhood, and has the opportunity to participate in civic life.
A city that moves – People and goods can move well and safely throughout the city, using a variety of convenient, affordable, accessible and efficient transportation choices.
A healthy and green city – We steward our air, land and water while encouraging healthy lifestyles for all Calgarians.
A well-run city – Calgary’s government is open, responsive, accountable and transparent, delivering excellent services at a fair price. We work with our government partners to ensure we have the tools we need.

Council reviewed many inputs before setting Council Priorities including: global, national and local trends, such City strategic plans and guiding documents as Imagine! Calgary, the Municipal Development Plan and Calgary Transportation Plan, along with The City’s long-range financial plan, economic indicators and, of course, citizen engagement.

Council Priorities are set to help guide each department as they create their business plans and budgets for the next four years. They define four-year priorities to ensure that City departments work together to achieve the right balance in quality public services while keeping tax rates affordable.

City staff will now use Council Priorities, along with other inputs including the indicative rates and fees, citizen engagement, trends, economic indicators and the needs of day to day operations, to draft their business unit and departmental business plans and budgets. Minutes, and therefore, Council Priorities and indicative rates and fees, from yesterday’s Special Strategic Planning Meeting of Council are unconfirmed until the Council meeting on May 10, 2014.

A high level summary of these draft plans will be presented by each department at five respective Standing Policy Committee meetings in September. Citizens and stakeholders will have opportunities to provide comments and thoughts on the consolidated draft Action Plan 2015-2018 in mid-November. There will be a final opportunity for citizens and stakeholders to appear and present at Council’s Public Hearing at the beginning of business plan and budget debates which start November 24, 2014.

Council also set indicative rates and fees for Action Plan 2015 – 2018. These rates and fees, together with Council Priorities, ensure departments now have the direction necessary to prepare the business plans and budgets, which will be presented to Council for deliberation in November. These rates and fees are indicative only, and final rates and fees will be set during Council’s deliberation of Action Plan 2015 – 2018 from November 24 to December 5, 2014.

Council sets indicative property tax rate of 4.7% for 2015 - 2018

Property taxes pay for services Calgarians use everyday including police, fire, transit, roads and pathways, parks, recreation, 311, garbage collection and many other services. Approximately 60% of your property tax goes to The City of Calgary. The other 40% goes directly to the Province.

Property taxes, including residential, non-residential and business, currently accounts for 42% of The City’s overall revenues. In 2014, the typical Calgary household will pay $134 per month on their property taxes based on a median single residential property assessed at $430,000.

For Action Plan, this indicative rate means the median household would see a monthly property tax increase of $6.30 in 2015, $6.60 in 2016, $6.90 in 2017 and $7.25 in 2018, if the indicative rates are approved in November during Council deliberations.

Council sets indicative rates for water, wastewater and drainage

The water utility is facing upward pressures on rates to keep pace with a growing city, meet increasingly stringent regulatory requirements, and maintain assets. Essential water infrastructure investments are required to protect public health and continue to provide high quality services to meet the growing needs of Calgary. For example Calgary’s largest wastewater treatment plant is approaching capacity and needs to be expanded in order to meet future population growth. The expansion is significant and requires an investment of about $700 million.

If approved by Council in November, the average household monthly bill for water and wastewater service would increase by $6.95 in 2015. Drainage rates are also increasing to improve drainage service in older communities that experience flooding during extreme rainfall events and to maintain high quality drainage service for all. The average monthly drainage increase is $1.66 per month per household in 2015. Despite the increases, Calgarians still pay less than a cent a litre for water.

The City of Calgary would like to remind customers, that when it comes to water you pay for what you use. Many Calgarians have already saved water and money by adopting simple water conservation actions like: 1) using rain barrels, 2) ensuring they have a water meter, and 3) fixing leaks. For example, finding and fixing one leaky toilet can save a household over $100 in a year.

Council sets indicative rates for Waste & Recycling Services

Council also set indicative rates for Waste & Recycling Services. This included a $6.50 monthly fee for Green Cart composting service which is scheduled to start in 2017. The Green Cart composting program builds on the success of the pilot program which has seen participants reduce garbage by 40%. Material that would have been buried in the landfills is now being turned into useful compost. Green cart fees will only start when the service is launched in 2017. Other indicative rates that were set include an inflationary increase to Blue Cart Recycling monthly household fee by $0.20 in 2015. The waste management charge will not increase.