Calgary city councillors got a deeper look at what the Alberta government’s 2026-27 budget means for the city, though some questioned the theatrical nature of a special meeting.
Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas called the Special Meeting of Calgary city council for March 4 to allow city administration to deliver a high-level report on the budget’s impact on the city.
The province presented a $9.4 billion deficit budget in late February, and along with it was a substantial increase in Calgary’s education property tax requisition. According to the city presentation, the province is asking for roughly $211 million from Calgary taxpayers in this budget.
It amounts to $339 annually on a single residential dwelling, or a 21.1 per cent increase, compared with a $49 annual increase to City of Calgary property taxes.
Kelly Cote, manager of government relations with the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO), said the potential increase was noted earlier as Alberta Finance Minister Nate Horner had previously said that the original intent of the education portion of the property tax was to fund 1/3 of education operating costs.
“During the COVID-19 pandemic, the education requisition was held flat for several years, which caused it to fall below the 1/3 target,” she explained to city councillors.
“The province has since indicated that it intends to restore the requisition to the original 1/3 funding model with increases phase between 2024 and 2026.”
Mayor Farkas, in two separate but similar media conferences on the province’s budget impact to Calgary, has said that we’re giving far more and getting very little in return.
Cote provided an outline of what Calgary asked for through the previous city council, and what it ultimately received through this budget.
She also noted that aside from the 14 new schools, which were announced earlier this month, most of the money included in the provincial budget is from prior announcements, and it will now begin to flow through to the City of Calgary this year.
Special meeting a bit ‘performative’?
While councillors peppered city administration with questions often left for a robust Intergovernmental Affairs (IGA) Committee meeting, or during Executive Committee, some councillors questioned the necessity of calling a special meeting.
Shortly after his two media conferences, Mayor Farkas posted to social media that he would be calling a special meeting of council to further discuss the impact.
Ward 2 Coun. Jennifer Wyness asked why the content wasn’t included in the Executive Committee agenda on March 3.
“Why does it have to be a special meeting when this is Executive’s purview,” Wyness asked.
Ward 14 Coun. Landon Johnston asked why it wouldn’t have come to IGA.
Ward 13 Coun. Dan McLean said that the province regularly produces and annual budget, and the impacts are typically discussed. He suggested a special meeting dedicated to it is something new.
“Have we ever done this before? To have a special meeting of council to talk about it? About a provincial budget, or is this just something new and possibly performative?” McLean asked.
“I just don’t want this to turn into a political exercise where we spend the next three hours and everybody debating and taking shots here and there.”
Mayor Farkas defended the decision, saying that it was important to have a clear line of conversation and information in a public setting dedicated to a single topic. He said councillors received a private briefing note from city administration but felt that this information should be made public.
“When we look at the share of what that level of increase will be from the provincial portion to the municipal portion, I think that it’s absolutely appropriate for members of the public to understand what the distinction between those two are, especially given the majority of Calgarians do not have that level of education, understanding that about half now of the property taxes go up to the provincial government versus go to the municipal level.”
In terms of his recent advocacy being performative, the mayor rebuffed that suggestion.
“There is nothing performative about the biggest tax increase in Calgary’s history, thanks to this provincial government,” Mayor Farkas said.
“Calgarians are set to receive a $350 property tax increase, the biggest property tax increase in our entire city of Calgary’s history, thanks to this decision by the provincial government.”
Separate bills are not coming
There’s been some rhetoric about issuing separate property tax bills in two mailouts so that Calgary taxpayers know who’s really digging into their pocket for more revenue.
That’s unlikely to happen, Calgary city councillors heard.
First off, it’s not allowed under the Municipal Government Act (MGA), according to City of Calgary Chief Financial Officer, Les Tochor.
“From the perspective of creating multiple bills, I believe we’d have a challenge with the MGA around our ability and our authority to do that, as well as our ability to go into individual from the TIPP (Tax Installment Payment Program) program,” Tochor said.
City assessor Eddie Lee concurred with Tochor’s assessment and added that, while well-meaning, it could create more confusion for Calgarians.
“Property tax has to be on one bill, one notice. Even if we were able to, it may cause significant confusion with the Calgarians. If we mail one, because at the end of the day, they are still writing a cheque to the City of Calgary, and they might pay one and not the other, and generate additional inquiries for our teams,” he said.
“Are you double-dipping? Did we accidentally double charge you on their TIPP payments or those sorts of things? So, there would be some challenges without any significant legislative changes to allow for those differences.”
City officials did say that the provincial portion will be larger and bolded in the upcoming property tax mailouts.
Mayor Farkas said that more needs to be done to create transparency around what the City of Calgary is charging and what they collect on behalf of the province.
“Even if it’s not two separate bills, clearly delineating that on the page, I think is critical,” he said.
“I think also having additional inserts, even sending an additional supplementary bill, I think is one way that we could do it relatively cost-effectively.”
Calgary city councillors accepted the report for information, and it will be forwarded to a future meeting of council.
