Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek said the upcoming budget conversation will be focused on striking a balance between affordability and delivering on key service areas for Calgarians.

The mid-cycle budget adjustment process begins Nov. 18, with a review of the city administration’s presentation, followed by the start of the public hearing.

Right now, the combined property tax increase (blending both residential and non-residential) sits at 3.6 per cent. In September, former Chief Financial Officer Carla Male delivered a preliminary budget that had a property tax increase of 4.5 per cent.

Mayor Gondek said earlier this month that she was disappointed city administration didn’t stick with the council-imposed cap. The week prior, CFO Male, along with Director of Corporate Planning and Performance, Chris Stewart, were dismissed.

By Nov. 5, thanks to the discovery of additional investment income, along with the reprioritization of some projects and optimization of open staff positions, the new acting CFO Les Tochor was able to deliver the 3.6 per cent promised increase.

Mayor Gondek said that 75 per cent of this year’s budget is targeted for three priority areas for Calgarians: Infrastructure, transit and public safety.

“We’ve managed to do all this while holding the line at 3.6 per cent. That’s a commitment we made in 2022, and we reinforced earlier this year,” the mayor told LWC.

The mayor also highlighted that when the 3.6 per cent rate was set back in 2022, it was done with the best information they had to forecast inflation and population growth.

“I can tell you our current situation is that we are almost double that forecast for inflation, and we are more than triple on population growth, but we still manage to hold the line,” she said.

Cut the increase in half: Coun. Sharp

Ward 1 Coun. Sonya Sharp said last week that she wasn’t surprised the money was found, before the budget is officially deliberated in council, to bring it back down from 4.5 per cent.

“Well, it’s an election year, so everything’s possible an election year,” Sharp said.

Further, Sharp said if city administration was able to find 0.9 per cent in available investment income and efficiencies, why stop there?  She told reporters that she’d like to see the 3.6 per cent increase cut in half. Last year, she and Ward 10 Coun. Andre Chabot pitched more than a dozen cost-cutting amendments. All of them failed.

“If we can find point nine, let’s keep seeing where we can find those efficiencies and without actually impacting core services,” Coun. Sharp said.

“I think it can be done. I’ve worked here long enough to know where you can look.”

Mayor Gondek said she’d welcome Coun. Sharp’s ideas on how it would be possible to cut the property tax increase further. Though, the mayor said they’ve been talking about budget for the past year through strategic meetings and at Executive Committee.

“We have not seen that idea brought forward in our executive committee meetings. We have not seen it in our strategic meetings with council,” the mayor said.

“I guess I’m just wondering how she came up with this idea a week before the budget.

Mayor Gondek also dismissed the idea that this was an election-friendly city budget. Calgarians will elect a mayor and city council next October, before the final year of this four-year budget cycle.

“This is a reality budget,” she said.

“We know that Calgarians have said that affordability is top of mind for them. Right now, for that reason, we have to make sure we’re delivering on what we said we would do in terms of a budget.”

In the face of a population boom and inflation, though decreasing, along with a municipal fiscal gap (provincial offloaded responsibilities) that’s ballooned from $311 million to a now estimated $436 million, the mayor said she doesn’t believe they’re leaving the next council in a lurch.

“We’ve kept our promise to Calgarians, keeping them in good shape for the coming year, and we are not leaving anything for future council to have to deal with, because we’re dealing with it right now,” she said.

City of Calgary budget deliberations are scheduled to go from Nov. 18 to 22.