A group of five Calgary city councillors are planning to bring forward a slew of changes during this week’s budget deliberations in an effort to reduce the proposed overall property tax increase of 3.6 per cent.
According to a news release sent Tuesday, councillors Andre Chabot, Sonya Sharp, Terry Wong, Jennifer Wyness and Dan McLean are planning to bring forward “over 20 amendments, referrals and motions” to next year’s proposed budget when debate begins Thursday.
“What we’re saying is even if we can find one per cent, we’re alleviating burden on Calgarians right now,” Sharp told reporters.
If approved, Sharp believes the list of changes could result in a reduction of $70 million in operating spending and another $4 million in capital investments. However, the amendments have not yet been made public.
“We really wanted to make sure we weren’t impacting transit, safety, front-line services. We went in deeper and said ‘what will not affect Calgarians right up front?’” Sharp said. “We’re not going in to cut transit, we’re not cutting police or fire.”
One of the amendments listed in the news release, proposed by Sharp and McLean, calls for the consolidation of the the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) and Chief Operating Officer (COO) positions to “eliminate redundant, high-cost roles and save taxpayer dollars.”
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Those roles are currently served by David Duckworth and Stuart Dalgleish, respectively, with Dalgleish’s internal appointment to the role last year coming with no pay increase.
Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek contended staffing changes within city administration are Duckworth’s decision to make, and city council can only advise his decision.
“We don’t direct how the organization is structured, we can certainly provide our perspectives,” Gondek told reporters. “To eliminate an entire position or to combine offices, that’s absolutely an operational decision of the chief administrative officer.”
When asked about how the five councillors would secure the required eight votes to approve the list of amendments, McLean noted “it is an election year.”
“So hopefully the will of council will be to find some additional savings without sacrificing any services to the public,” he told reporters.
According to the news release, Chabot and Wong will introduce an amendment to eliminate a planned one per cent tax shift from non-residential to residential properties “to reduce the tax burden on homeowners.”
Local businesses have advocated council over the last number of budget adjustments to gradually shift the property tax burden.
“While we may solve a problem on one hand, we’re creating a problem on the residential side and I don’t want to create that problem,” Wong said. “We can solve the non-residential problem in other ways.”
The release said Coun. Wyness had concerns with the city’s purchase of electric buses, and will present an amendment with McLean to shift the city’s focus to purchasing natural gas buses.
McLean is also expected to propose an amendment to shift funding for “provincially mandated responsibilities” out of the city’s base operating budget, according to the release, which lists files like affordable housing, mental health, and low-income bus passes.
“All very worthy, but not municipal responsibilities,” the release said.
Calgary’s mayor said she had no issue with councillors bringing forward amendments, but noted the amendments haven’t been shared with council, even after preparations for the budget throughout the year.
“We have an executive committee that is designed to look at budget every month, and at that time, none of this was brought up,” Gondek told reporters.
“So you spend all that time with your colleagues, never bring any of these ideas forward and then spring it on us at the last minute during budget deliberations. That doesn’t look like you’ve been thoughtful, it doesn’t look like you’ve been organized, and it is certainly not collaborative.”
Gondek has previously said the proposed adjustments to the 2025 budget are “rooted in reality,” balancing pressures due to inflation and population growth with investments in infrastructure, transit and public safety.
The overall property tax increase of 3.6 per cent, and proposed utility fee increases, are expected to cost an extra $13.46 per month for the median single-family home assessed at $700,000.
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