City council had voted earlier this year to cap next year’s property tax increase at 3.6 per cent
Calgary city council is being asked by administration to approve a bigger tax hike than previously agreed to for the city to keep pace with a rapidly growing population.
City administration made the proposal public on Monday in part to inform Calgarians of the city’s budgetary plans, two months before it will present the entire budget in November.
The average property will therefore see a 4.5 per cent increase to property taxes — nearly one percentage point more than what council had previously approved for the coming year, layered on top of higher water, waste and recycling rates.
City hall has deployed several strategies to find efficiencies, rescope or reprioritize certain work, said Carla Male, the city’s chief financial officer. “But the work done this year is just not enough,” she said.
“It’s simply not possible to absorb as many new Calgarians as we have during a time of significant inflation without either having costs increase or services decline.”
Alberta is projecting its population will increase by 4.6 per cent in 2024, a spike even greater than 2023 in which it saw a record 4.4 per cent jump. Overall, the gap between total city expenditures against population and inflation growth — which prior to 2020 were almost equal — is projected to hit 24 per cent by 2026, a difference of about $1.2 billion.
The city’s service plans have struggled to keep up with this growth, forcing the city to “do the same with less,” Male said. She added that Calgary’s property taxes have increased at a rate slower than major Canadian cities such as Toronto, Vancouver and Winnipeg.
Increased fees for water, waste and recycling will result in the average user paying an extra $5.09 a month or $61 per year on their water and waste utility bill in 2025.
“Despite council’s direction to keep tax increases at the previously approved 3.6 per cent, we feel that we really need to provide council with our very best advice,” Male said. She added the city was able to find about $100 million in efficiencies which helped keep the tax increase from exceeding 4.5 per cent.
The city is also proposing capital investments that will cover cost escalations for previously approved projects ($15.8 million); maintenance and critical repair work ($124 million); housing and community development ($75 million); and matched funding ($14.1 million).
Council will receive the full budget from administration on Nov. 5.
— With files from Scott Strasser