The dust has settled on Calgary’s 2025 budget and with it a plan to bolster service areas and fund a variety of projects with one-time surplus cash.
Calgary city councillors voted 9-6 on Friday evening in favour of a combined 3.6 per cent property tax increase for 2025, along with an increase in water rates. All told, for the typical single-family detached homeowner ($700K value) it means roughly $13 per month.
What did Calgary taxpayers get for this increase? We’ll look at the planned investments for 2025 through the property tax increase, along with what the City of Calgary will dole out in one-time cash for other projects.
It’s also worth reviewing what didn’t get approved – most in the form of cuts, shifts, or user fee increases.
Budgeted investments
First, it’s worth going over how the City of Calgary was able to afford some of the planned investments. In their first draft of the budget presented back in September, City of Calgary administration said proposed a 4.5 per cent combined property tax increase and included $72 million in “ongoing annual funding” by reducing recurring operating variances and “other tactics.”
The revised budget saw $141 million in funding found (+$69 million). That allowed them to reduce the property tax increase back to the council-imposed 3.9 per cent combined amount.
Here’s a detailed breakdown of the proposed investments via city documents:
Added investments with one-time surplus or reserve cash
City administration indicated to councillors that there was roughly $38 million in available surplus that could be deployed to projects that couldn’t be wedged into the budget without causing a greater property tax increase for 2025. Here are some of those expenses:
CPS Gun Range – $9.5 million: Calgary police presented their budget and with it was the proposed used of Community Safety Investment Framework (CSIF) funds to help cover the overage in a much-needed new gun range.
Ward 8 Coun. Courtney Walcott, who was one of the biggest drivers for the CSIF cash, which was to boost a variety of projects geared toward diverting non-emergency social calls away from the Calgary police, said that CSIF money shouldn’t be used.
Calgary city council instead agreed to pay for the overage through surplus funds, destined for the Fiscal Stability Reserve (FSR).
Historic Resource Property Tax Cancellation – $1.3 million: This measure, put forward by Ward 9 Coun. Gian-Carlo Carra was to pay for a two-year pilot project to better examine the base-budget impact of a tax cancellation program for properties that were designated historic resources.
“Heritage homes tell the story about where we were, and if we’re doing our jobs right, they’re not just a gift from the past, but they’re a gift from the present into the future where our communities become living stories of where we’re at, where we’ve come from and where we’re going,” said Carra.
Pavement rehabilitation – $20 million: Ward 14 Coun. Peter Demong has been on a “fix the damn roads” crusade in light of a recent report showing that Calgary’s overall pavement quality has been eroding over the past decade. This money is in addition to $59 million put towards road improvements. While initially proposed to be taken from the $38 million surplus, a change drew it from the billion-dollar Reserve for Future Capital.
Calgary has filled a record number of potholes in 2024 and invested in a new machine that should improve efficiency of pothole fills around the city.
HMCS 30th / Grey Cup / Carnavale – $165,000 combined: Amendments proposed by Couns. Penner (HMCS) and Mian (GC and Carnavale) asked for monies to include in the budget for the upcoming HMCS Calgary 30th anniversary celebration ($65,000), plus the Grey Cup and Carnavale celebrations ($50,000 each).
Coun. Mian said she wanted to ensure the volunteers who drive these Calgary-boosting events have the support they need.
“All of these volunteers spend a significant amount of money every year representing our city, and it really puts Calgary on the map in a positive way,” she said.
Recreation centre upgrades – $15 million: Ward 3 Coun. Jasmine Mian put forward a plan to fund $7.5 million in upgrades in 2025 and 2026 for projects that are currently identified but unfunded in repair and maintenance of facilities.
“This money would be one time money, $7.5 million in 25 and $7.5 million in 26, which would go towards some of our highest rec priorities, very likely that this will go towards Village Square Leisure Center,” Mian said.
“To give you some context, Inglewood would get 30,000 visits in a year. Village Square gets half a million and this will go to improving customer facing things like accessibility and critical aspects of that that building.”
This would be funded through the $38 million in surplus cash.
Engagement review – $775,000: This is money that will be used to help fund a review of the City of Calgary’s public engagement practices. It’s part of a plan put forward in October by a trio of city councillors to examine best practices in how the city manages public input.
“We need to be better in how we engage with our community, our citizens,” said Ward 7 Coun. Terry Wong.
“We need to be better engaging them so that whatever it is that they’re saying, we listen to, we actually embed. We need to be better with them so they have confidence and trust in what we do.”
This is funded through the $38 million in surplus cash.
Inglewood pool – up to $1.2 million: The story of the Inglewood pool has played out over the past several years, with Calgary city council deciding in October to confirm the December 2024 closure. That was upended, however, when a group of councillors pushed to have the pool’s immediate maintenance needs covered and operating cash made available to fund it through 2026.
The pool’s operating costs are $400,000 annually (2025, 2026) and up to $400,000 was set aside for maintenance and repairs, of which $150,000 would be needed immediately to upgrade the building’s electrical. Councillors were warned that even with the $400,000 investment, the pool could be closed at any time if there is a significant risk, or if the required upgrades go beyond $400,000.
“Right now, cutting this essential community service should not be a default to lower taxes,” said Ward 1 Coun. Sonya Sharp.
“I would really hope that you would support this amendment, especially when we talk about mental health and talk about facilities and amenities for Calgarians, this pool is a little heart in an area where it benefits everyone.”
It was approved, along with a reconsideration of the prior decision to close. The cash will come from the $38 million surplus.
FCSS funding – $1.5 million: Councillors approved an additional $750,000 to go to Family and Community Support Services programs for both 2025 and 2026. Ward 7 Coun. Terry Wong said that a recent report showed 255 applications for funding were made to FCSS and 62 per cent were approved.
This money would go to support more of those applications. The funding comes from the $38 million in surplus cash.
Events and activations, service in the downtown – $2 million: Ward 7 Coun. Terry Wong requested that $2 million ($1 million for events and activations, $1 million for DT service level enhancement). Both would be taken from the FSR.
Parks and playgrounds – $2.5 million – Ward 5 Coun. Raj Dhaliwal put forward this amendment to use cash for parks and playgrounds amenity upgrades.
“What this is trying to do, at least for next year, is fill that gap, to support the projects that are already down the pipeline, or they were conceived, they were in the conceptual in design in a way,” said Dhaliwal.
“They were discussed with the communities, maybe in a formal way, and some of them might be easy to execute around the city, because many of these are much-needed playgrounds for our kids, and to support amenities for a growing population.”
What wasn’t approved in this year’s budget?
Most of the failed amendments proposed for 2025 looked for ways to cut budget or divert property tax increases away from Calgary residential property owners.
CAO budget / Executive travel expense review – minimum $2.5 million: Ward 1 Coun. Sonya Sharp wanted $2.5 million in base savings to be found in the Chief Administrative Officer and Chief Operating Officer budgets. Previously, Sharp and other councillors proposed the amalgamation of the roles to reduce any potential redundancies in duties and staff.
This was defeated.
Tax shift cut – $1 per month: Ward 10 Coun. Andre Chabot pitched the idea of cutting the proposed property tax shift (one per cent from non-residential to residential) to 0.5 per cent in 2025. City councillors heard that the current proposed tax shift was worth about $2 a month in additional property taxes for the typical single-detached residential home. Cutting it in half would amount to a savings of $1 per month.
Coun. Chabot said that the need for the tax shift resulted from the devaluation of the downtown core and the need to protect small businesses. He said, however, that the larger corporations, including multi-nationals, are the ones most benefitting from the tax shift to residential.
“In fact, you’re hurting the small businesses, not today, but in the future, by allowing this tax shift to continue to occur, when the tax shift starts going back to those high value properties, downtown,” he said.
“This is a complex issue. I’m trying to not only fix the problems of today but set us up for success for the future for the small businesses.”
EV buses program cut – no immediate savings, likely loss of federal government funding, and opportunity cost lost from infrastructure already installed: The City of Calgary’s foray into battery-powered buses has met several barriers, including the inability to conduct a pilot project due to the supplier not being able to build the product.
The City is now looking at a new procurement for their EV bus fleet. Councillors also heard that there is a likely additional cost for roads maintenance due to the increased weight of battery-powered vehicles.
Transit-oriented development – $24.5 million: Ward 13 Coun. Dan McLean wanted to cut the City of Calgary’s budget to oversee and prepare potential sites for transit-oriented development.
“Let’s not use 10s of millions of taxpayers’ dollars for something that the private sector can invest in and is more than willing to invest in if we proceed with these transit-orientated developments,” said McLean.
“Let’s put out a request for proposals. That’s normally what we do. Let’s see what the interest is out there from the private sector to develop these sites to provide housing for Calgarians.”
The amendment was defeated, as other councillors said the city investment in TOD lands ensures they’re brought to development swifter than the private sector… AKA Westbrook station lands.
Secondary suites incentive cash – $8 million ($4 million in 2025/2026): Ward 10 Coun. Andre Chabot wanted to cut the $4 million annually in secondary suite incentives being given out to those applicants looking for grant funding to ensure they had a legal secondary suite.
There was concern back in 2023 that funding an ongoing amnesty program for suites wasn’t ideal.
This was defeated.
Mental health and addictions – $6 million, revert to one-time funding: Ward 2 Coun. Jennifer Wyness advocated for Calgary’s mental health and addictions strategy funding of $6 million be taken out of this year’s Community Strategies base budget and instead funded in 2025 and 2026 with one-time FSR cash. The amendment also called for Mayor Jyoti Gondek to write a letter to the province to advocate for permanent provincial funding for Calgary’s mental health and addictions strategy.
This was defeated.
Cowboys Park upgrades – $4 million: Ward 1 Coun. Sonya Sharp wanted $4 million in funding for Cowboys Park capital upgrades to be removed from the budget with a request for more information to be provided in Q2 of 2025 before further funding would be approved.
City administration warned that it could have an impact on an already approved sponsorship agreement for the park. Further, some of this was life-cycle maintenance that would need to be completed in the area.
This was defeated.
20.4 per cent property tax increase – $480 million added to budget: In more of a symbolic move than a literal one, Ward 12 Coun. Evan Spencer said the city is seeing the result of years of underfunding city services and is now forced to pick winners and losers each year during budget time.
He proposed adding $160 million annually to the budget to help cover roads, recreation, and other areas to take a bite out of the expected $1.4 billion growth gap by 2026.
Councillors commended Spencer for highlighting the issue, but suggested these issues could have been brought up during budget deliberations, or highlight an even bigger problem with the reduction in infrastructure grants from the provincial and federal governments.
It was defeated.
Reverse 2023/2024 Calgary Transit fare freeze – $3 million: Ward 10 Coun. Andre Chabot wanted to reverse the 2023 Calgary Transit fare freeze of $.10 per adult fare, tacking it on to the already approved $.10 increase for 2025 for a total of $3.90 per fare. That would have added $3 million more to cover Calgary Transit costs, which were already short by $33 million for 2025.
“All I’m proposing is that we stick to the original plan, which is what we had approved in the four-year business plan, and that’s what this is reflective of,” said Chabot.
Several councillors who were opposed said that this could continue to reduce the number of people who ride Calgary Transit, and still hit the low-income transit pass users hard, as the amount of their subsidy is dependent on the full-fare ticket price.
This was defeated.
Tax shift – part two: $4 per month – Ward 10 Coun. Andre Chabot pitched the idea of offering a $24 million rebate to cover the one per cent tax shift. According to city admin, it would change the tax increase by roughly 1.9 per cent on a typical single-family home, or around $4 per month.
“This is providing at least a little bit of relief that we are trying to pass on to the residential from the non-residential sector,” Chabot said.
This was defeated with several councillors saying that it would create an unnecessary bow wave in property taxes, as it would have to be covered by residential taxpayers in the 2026 budget.
This was defeated.
