We’re finally back in action after essentially a week off from Calgary city council meetings.

(Yes, there was a Calgary Planning Commission last week.)

This week, there’s a Combined Meeting of Council and an Infrastructure and Development meeting.

If we were betting newsies, we’d say the combined meeting has the potential to go two days. There are a couple of items that will likely be pulled from the consent agenda after being debated by committee.

There’s also a large number of public hearing items to go through (17).  Add in a discussion on service plans and budgets and a significant closed session and we’re looking at a possible Wednesday finish. Or, at the very least a late Tuesday session.

Combined Meeting of Council – Tuesday, May 10

There are a handful of items on the agenda to watch for this week. In particular, there will likely be items pulled from the consent agenda.

Resilient roofing rebate (Consent)

Likely one of the items to be pulled from the consent agenda is the resilient roofing rebate.

At the April 19 Executive Committee meeting, councillors approved a plan to find out how many homes had replaced the roof (contingent on an application with the city.) That plan would also look into the cost of providing rebates to those homeowners.

Ultimately council would be seeking approval to fund those remaining homes.  Couns. Peter Demong and Andre Chabot opposed it at committee.

Tax deferral for annexed properties (Consent)

At the April 19 Executive Committee, councillors narrowly approved a plan that would provide continued property tax relief for Shepard residents 15 years after their land was annexed by the city.

More than 680 properties were annexed in 2007 from Rocky View County. They continued to be taxed at RVC rates for 15 years. In 2022, 466 of those properties are being transitioned to City of Calgary tax rates, even though anticipated services haven’t yet been realized.

Four councillors opposed the measure at committee.

Other items of interest

Calgary city councillors will also look at the regulated tax meter rate adjustment at this meeting. It’s expected that measure will pass.

Councillors will also get a verbal presentation from city administration on the upcoming 2023 to 2026 service plan and budgets.

There’s a 15-slide presentation that’s sure to generate discussion (and probably a story) on where Calgary heads next with its budget.

Infrastructure and planning committee – Thursday, May 12

This is a pretty thin agenda, with the primary item being a report from the Joint Use Coordinating Committee.

This is the committee comprised of the City of Calgary, the school boards, community associations and the construction sector. They are supposed to be working together to ensure the ideal planning, use and distribution of community-based facilities that are joint use.

(We believe this committee’s importance will grow as neighbourhoods grapple with the closure of established area schools and how to turn these into multi-purpose facilities.)