There’s a push on to begin paring away at Calgary’s 2024 property tax increase, and it will start with a plan to mitigate the impact of the recently approved tax shift.
Councillors will review the technical merits of a Notice of Motion at the Jan. 23 Executive Committee meeting put forward by a handful of councillors, asking for a reconsideration of the 2024 budget. In particular, the motion directs city administration to come back with a list of operating and capital budget adjustments to reduce either budget and rebate the one per cent tax shift.
That would amount to roughly $23 million, the motion reads.
This year, as a part of the budget deliberations, councillors approved a one per cent tax shift from non-residential properties to residential properties. That put more of the tax responsibility on Calgary homeowners. The ratio was 52 per cent residential and 48 non-residential. The 2024 shift made the ratio 53-47, and they approved a further move for 2025 to 54-46.
Along with this, the motion asks that there be an additional request to find the same amount in the 2025 budget, to reduce the so-called ‘bow wave’ effect of one-time cash.
Ward 7 Coun. Terry Wong said the tax shift was something the local business groups had long fought for. However, he said that the city hasn’t really done effective communication on it with other citizens. Post budget, some councillors have engaged with their communities, Wong said.
“We asked the question, ‘what was it that bothered you the most’ and what bothered them the most was the shift,” he said.
“We understand that there are priorities in housing and transit and safety, but the affordability, the (tax) shift one was not identified during the year. So, the residents are saying to me, particularly, ‘why put the burden on us?'”
Wong said going this route also allows the city to keep the tax shift intact, while still lessening the impact on homeowners.
Other councillors signing on to the motion are: Ward 10 Coun. Andre Chabot, Ward 1 Coun. Sonya Sharp, Ward 2 Coun. Jennifer Wyness, Ward 4 Coun. Sean Chu and Ward 13 Coun. Dan McLean.
Amounts to little, said Coun. Penner
Ward 11 Coun. Kourtney Penner, who is the vice-chair of the city’s Executive Committee, said that should this pass, the average Calgary taxpayer might see a rebate of between $10 and $20. Even then, the program isn’t equitable.
“That feels more like a political gesture than it does an actual meaningful gesture to address affordability,” she said.
“There is also no way to ascertain that this gets back to all Calgarians. That’s really limited to the taxpayer, like the property tax payer, and that in that case, there’s no guarantee that if someone is renting a house or renting a property, that they would see that return come back to them.”
Penner said the next question is where the cuts come from. Administration would be forced to come up with a suite of savings that could impact affordability elsewhere for families – like a cap on Calgary Transit fares or the free fares for youth 12 and under.
“I agree, every little thing adds up for households. I have had people who have been absolutely frustrated at the tax rate increase. They are frustrated,” she said.
“I have not had an ask for a rebate. I’ve not had people ask me for $40 back. If people are going to ask for something, they’re going to actually ask for all of it.”
Coun. Penner said it amounted to re-litigating an already approved budget. She did say, however, that one part of the motion – to look at a reduction in 2025 spending to cover the tax shift for that year – she could possibly support. Those discussions could be part of their monthly strategic sessions that are part of Executive Committee meetings.
“I can be supportive of that part of the notice of motion because that’s forward looking,” she said.
“We don’t have to rethink necessarily what we just did two months ago.”
Budget not finalized, says Coun. Sharp
Ward 1 Coun. Sonya Sharp said there’s still time to tinker around with the city budget. It’s not finalized until March, she said. Further, she said that given direction, administration could find ways to pare things back without affecting affordability.
“Administration can push off what they may not need at this moment, and still be able to deliver on our top two priorities, which were affordability for Calgarians and public safety,” Sharp said.
She felt as though 10 cost-cutting amendments put forward during the budget deliberations in November got no consideration and little debate.
“It was like there was already a predetermined outcome that we were moving forward on what they called investments. Now, the six of us got back together, the ones that didn’t vote for the overall budget and said, you know, there’s got to be an opportunity here to look at something to do for Calgarians in general, before we head into mid-cycle.
Wong dismissed the notion that this was a political play.
“This motion is not a political game. This motion is really doing the right things, doing it the right way, because that’s what the people ask for,” Wong said.
If the motion is approved at committee, it would be forwarded to a full regular meeting of council for debate and potential approval.
