After a marathon 2026 Calgary budget deliberation, property taxes were reduced, but with it came new one-time spending included in the budget in priority areas.

The typical Calgary homeowner will pay an additional $4.50 per month, down from the originally proposed $13.11 per month that was moved ahead by the last Calgary city council.

While the amount of revenue supported by Calgary’s residential and non-residential taxpayers went down, there was a considerable amount of added spending, over and above what was already included in the proposed budget, largely funded through the use of Calgary’s reserves.

Here’s what Calgary city councillors added to the budget:

• There was $13 million for the Operational Capital Improvement Program to fund the top three capital priorities, including the Memorial Drive and 5^th Avenue Flyover, the 16 Avenue and 68 Street NE and the McKnight and 68 Street NE intersections.

This money will come from corporate capital grants (provincial funding) and was unanimously approved.

Ward 10 Coun. Andre Chabot put the motion forward and said that the work would provide much-needed relief, particularly at 68 Street NE. Chabot said he’s driven the stretch at all times of the day, and he said that it seems like it’s constantly backed up in the area.

“For those of you who have had the pleasure of either playing hockey or going there with the children whatnot, I can tell you that it’s really bad up there,” he said.

“It doesn’t just affect my communities. It affects folks in communities in Ward 5 as well as folks in the communities of Ward 3.”

Mobility director Troy McLeod said that 68 Street would have to widened to allow for dual turn bays in that areas.

As a capital project, this added cash won’t have a direct impact on the future property tax rate.

• $24 million in capital costs for the Glacier A growth application. While it’s only adding $0.5 million in 2026, it will add $23.5 million in 2027, according to city documents. It will include the design work for an Emergency Response Station for the area. This cost will be offset by off-site developer levies; however, it will impact future operating costs, which are to be included in the 2027-2030 budget.

Ward 2 Coun. Jennifer Wyness said that this area was originally approved along with a batch of Area Structure Plans in 2018.

“This area has been paying for levies, and for a while there, administration was taking greenfield off-site levies and funneling them into the inner city to keep other projects alive,” she said.

“So, now we are making sure that the benefiting area who is paying the off-site levies will get the resources that they are paying for.”

That was approved in a 9-6 vote.

• $3 million in capital funding from the Reserve for Future Capital and Lifecycle Maintenance for parks and playground amenity upgrades.

Ward 5 Coun. Raj Dhaliwal said that he attempted this amendment last year so the City of Calgary could look at upgrading roughly 12 city playgrounds while city administration was continuing work on the parks and playgrounds strategy. With that strategy slated to come in 2026, Dhaliwal said he wanted to backstop the work until it could be addressed in the upcoming four-year budget.

“I urge my council colleagues to support it so we can continue that great work, which is delivering those plays, playgrounds and parks for our much-needed communities all across the city,” he said.

It was unanimously approved.

• $6 million in Calgary Transit funding for improvements to 11 routes, as reported by LWC, along with the Primary Transit Network. Roughly $4 million will come from the fares increases coming on Jan. 1. The other $2 million is funded through the property tax increase.

“This really is not about Ward 7,” said proposing Coun. Myke Atkinson.

“This is about what we hear and what we see in all of our sort of outlying areas and making sure that they have good connectivity to the Primary Transit Network.”

It was approved 13-2 with Couns. Dan McLean and Landon Johnston opposed.

• $9 million in one-time operating funding, funded by the Fiscal Stability Reserve, to develop a transit safety pilot project that will focus on security enhancements at LRT Stations from the hours of 4 to 8 p.m. It will include Transit Peace Officers, Corporate Security, contracted security guards, and adding six officers to the Community Outreach Team.

“This pilot focuses resources where they matter the most, during peak hours and at stations with the highest rates of incidents. This ensures maximum return on investment, not just in dollars, but in public confidence,” said Ward 6 Coun. John Pantazopoulos, who put the amendment forward.

This is one investment that, should it continue beyond 2026 (with one-time cash), it would likely have to be funded through property tax revenue as it adds operational costs. That value ($9 million) is roughly a .36 per cent increase to the property tax rate.

It was approved 9-6.

• $750,000 in one-time operating funding would be added to the Civic Partners Operating Grant program, funded from the Fiscal Stability Reserve (FSR).

It was approved 9-6.

• $1.15 million in from the Fiscal Stability Reserve to fund two different programs: The washroom attendant program (Devonian Gardens, Century Gardens Park and Central Memorial Park), and the contract cleaning program on Dermott Baldwin Way. 

Both of these would be considered for ongoing operations funding in the 2027-2030 four-year budget.

“One of the main purposes for me bringing this forward is the knock-on effects that we see for improvements in the perceptions of public safety, because, as Councillor Atkinson mentioned, when we don’t have safe and regular access to public washrooms, then we see that issue come on to our streets,” said Ward 8 Coun. Nathan Schmidt, who proposed the motion.

 “That is something that I think not only makes the public uncomfortable, but certainly is, is not a dignified way for us to provide a human necessity for everybody sitting in this room to be able to live your lives.”

The washroom attendant amendment was approved 12-3, with Couns. Landon Johnston, Rob Ward and John Pantazopoulos opposed. The cleaning program outside the Drop-In Centre was approved 14-1, with Coun. Rob Ward opposed.

• $93.7 million ($65 million from the Community Investment Reserve and $28.7 million from the FSR) for recreation infrastructure across Calgary. The big addition is for the advancement of the Northeast Athletic Complex. The $28.7 million is for upgrades to Shouldice Athletic Park, Forest Lawn Civic Centre, Umoja Community Mosaic Soccer Field, New Brighton Athletic Park, Southland Leisure Centre, Belmont Recreation Centre and Athletic Park, Kingsland Athletic Park and Rocky Ridge Fieldhouse

Ward 5 Coun. Raj Dhaliwal said that the advancement of the northeast recreation facility would go a long way towards addressing recreation discrimination in that quadrant of the city.

“This is about people who live in the northeast (and what) we’ve been contributing to the city. The story of two cities east and west of Deerfoot (Trail) has to end, and this is just the start of it, with recreation,” he said.

• $3 million of capital budget from the Fiscal Stability Reserve to YMCA Calgary for the design and permits of the West District YMCA facility.

This was approved 14-1 with Ward 1 Coun. Tyers opposed.

• $2 million in corporate capital grants cash allocated to the Operational Services for New Traffic Signals and Pedestrian Corridors to continue the program to supply two Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacons per ward.

“I think this is a program that each of us can really take and put into action rather quickly to show that we’re doing something about pedestrian safety,” said Ward 3 Coun. Andrew Yule, who put the motion forward.

This was unanimously approved.

• $11.25 million in initial funding from the Fiscal Stability Reserve to advance the purchase of more buses to meet the need of the Route Ahead program.

This is only a portion of the money ($45 million) needed to fund up to 45 additional buses. The remaining amount would have to be considered in the 2027-2030 budget process, but would be a lost investment if Calgary Transit did not move ahead with the purchase.

• $7.5 million in Vision Zero related pedestrian improvements to be funded from the FSR.

This was proposed by Ward 7 Coun. Myke Atkinson, and included several improvements around the city, outlined in this piece by LWC.

It was approved 13-2 with Couns. Rob Ward and Landon Johnston opposed.

• $1 million from the Reserve for Future Capital reallocated to the Heritage Asset Sustainment Program to help bring the Beltline YWCA maintenance up to par.

This building was the subject of dozens of speakers during the public submission portion of the 2026 Calgary budget deliberations. Ward 8 Coun. Nathan Schmidt said that this would hopefully get the building back into a position where lessors could continue to operate.

• $300K for the National accessArts new building in West Hillhurst. Comes from the Reserve for Future Capital and Lifecycle Maintenance.

Unanimously approved.

• $8 million from the Fiscal Stability Reserve with $3 million going to the Heritage Incentive Reserve, and $5 million to the Heritage Calgary Reserve Fund.

This was approved in a 9-6 vote.

• ~$8.7 million for the Calgary Fire Department to purchase a new engine and fund ongoing operating support, plus add a training coordinator, four training officers and six mechanics.  Aside from $2.2 million in capital, this would all be property tax funded, according to city documents.

Ward 9 Coun. Harrison Clark said that fire consistently reaches a 95 per cent satisfaction with Calgarians but continually struggle to meet performance metrics.

“This ask before us would help fill critical gaps with equipment, training and ongoing vehicle repairs. Every dollar we give them means improved safety for Calgarians,” said Clark.

~$70 million from Fiscal Stability Reserve

When all was said and done, a little more than $70 million was taken from the FSR alone, drawing it down to roughly eight per cent of the annual operating budget remaining.

The City of Calgary’s target is 15 per cent, and the legislated minimum is five per cent.

In his day-after-approved-budget press conference, Mayor Jeromy Farkas didn’t know specifically what the final tally was on the FSR. That number would be presented at the Dec. 9 Executive Committee meeting.

“That said we’re incredibly healthy position, as compared to other cities all across the country, we’ve been able to do a lot more with less, while still continuing to invest in the needed recreation facilities, transit infrastructure and so on,” he said.

Previously, Ward 10 Coun. Andre Chabot, who did vote in favour of this year’s budget, said that he does have some concern about the reliance on reserves to fund the investments.

“There’s other reserves that have been drawn from, some of which have limited sources of revenue, and some, through legislative changes, will not be getting as much revenue as they have in the past. So that’s why I’m always cautious about reducing our reserves,” he said.  

“The Fiscal Stability Reserve is our last, go-to reserve that could be utilized for capital or operating, which is why I’m always concerned about drawing that one too far down, because we just don’t know what emergencies might come up over the course of the next year.”

While the FSR was used to fund a variety of program, some of which will add to future operating costs, Mayor Farkas drew the line at using it to wiping out the remaining property tax increase. It would have cost another roughly $41 million in reserve cash to do so.

“We can’t afford to continue to kick the can down the road,” he said.

“Tapping into reserves for one time relief may solve the problem for this year, but it’ll set us up for failure in the next which is why I’m going to be pushing hard for more sustainable solutions.”

He was confident in the balance between value for services and the use of reserve funds to bolster city resources.

“The FSR is lower than it was in previous years, but it’s still in a position that we can weather any storm in the coming four-year term,” Farkas said.