A new set of Calgary city councillors will take their crack at the final year of Calgary’s current four-year budget, with some planning big changes and others standing mostly pat.

Calgary’s 2026 budget deliberations kick off Nov. 24 with an administration presentation, and then the start of public submissions.

 Those public submissions will likely spill over into Tuesday. Once the public portion is complete, councillors will then, over the next four days, hear from the primary business units, ask questions, propose budget amendments, and then ultimately vote on a final budget.

Right now, the proposed combined property tax increase is 3.6 per cent. For homeowners, it’s 5.8 per cent, and for non-residential property owners (businesses), it’s 1.4 per cent. New Mayor Jeromy Farkas said that he wants to see the residential property tax increase cut in half.

Given the relative newness of the current Calgary city council and their unfamiliarity with the budget process and the budget itself, some councillors said patience may be required.

“We have 10 brand new councillors with lots of questions on this, but we are also doing our homework and leading up to it. So, I’m hopeful for an expedient process,” said Ward 3 Coun. Andrew Yule.

“It is a good kind of interim budget to kind of get our feet wet, because next year is the big year that we have to decide on the strategy moving forward for the next four years.”

Ward 10 Coun. Andre Chabot said that fresh off an election, he expects some councillors to try to “make their mark.”

“If the public are there, who will be making a lot of their submissions, you might see some members of council trying to, I guess, position themselves… to ensure that people take note that they’re being relevant and that they’re actively participating in the discussion,” he told LWC.   

“They don’t want to be seen as being just bumps on a log collecting a paycheque.”

Proposed changes are coming

Along with that, Chabot said that after public submissions and questions, he expects some of the newer councillors to put forward amendments without really understanding the long-term consequences on the City of Calgary.

“You may see some of those succeed and some fail, and some that may succeed in passing, but will have to be re-addressed sometime in the future because of the, I guess, unintended consequences of some of those decisions that may not be realized right away,” Chabot said.

“It may take some time before administration can clearly demonstrate to members of council the implications of some of their decisions.”

He expects an amendment to be put forward to cut the $40 million ask for downtown office-to-residential conversions. Chabot also said we can expect councillors to want to use the city’s fiscal stability reserve to pay for some of the budget asks as one-time items.

“It’s not surplus funds. That’s the perception I think some new members of council have, is that some of those reserves that are unallocated, they see that as surplus,” he said.

One he’ll support is the tax shift, along with pushing for the province to take over some of the income supports – like the low-income transit pass. Chabot said he’s also not fond of the free transit for children under 12 because it’s forcing drivers to become enforcement officers.

Ward 13 Coun. Dan McLean pointed to the $40 million for downtown office conversions as a place to start cutting. He said that would immediately take two per cent off the proposed tax increase.

“I’d rather knock that old building down and build a park. If you want people coming downtown, we need parks and grocery stores and dog walks and all sorts of nice things,” he told LWC.

“That’s when the private sector is supposed to come in and say, ‘Here’s an opportunity. I can buy this building for cheap and turn it into condos and make money.’”

McLean said as he sees it, some 500 additional full-time hires are being sought in this year’s budget. He wants to know where these positions are going.

Small tweaks and setting expectations

Coun. Yule said that he’s got his eye on a couple of tiny potential tweaks to the budget, including a $20,000 ask for a study on community spaces and a continuation of the city’s rectangular rapid flashing beacons program (two units per ward).

Yule said that he held his budget town hall last week and heard that affordability was important. It’s also something he said he heard at the doors during the election.

“I’m definitely open to that discussion this week, because that’s what Calgarians are asking for, is affordability,” he said.  

“I know that some councillors are looking to bring (the tax increase) all the way down to zero, others just kind of looking for some minor relief.”

Ward 7 Coun. Myke Atkinson said that he’s also open to some of the discussions around the table, but he’d like to get right into investments – particularly in pedestrian safety and in bolstering Calgary Transit service.

“It’s more just looking at the current trajectory, and if there are any things that we need to pull forward,” he said.

“If you plant a tree today, you get one more year of growth on it. Are there things like that that we need to be pulling forward.”

In terms of potential cuts to programs, Atkinson said he felt it was important to take a step back and look at how the money’s being spent and the service expectations of Calgarians.

“I don’t come to it from sort of the hard-line angle of setting a target and then building around it,” he told LWC.

“I think you need to come to the budget with an expectation and an understanding of what those services are, what the levers you have at your disposal for maybe some of the items that could be a plus or more removed.”

Coun. McLean said that after all is said and done, he thinks Calgarians can expect some property tax relief this year.

“I think you can put some money on that one if I were a betting man,” he said.