Revenue guidance for Calgary’s next four-year budget has been requested by city council, with preliminary numbers asking for a cumulative 42.5 per cent property tax revenue growth between 2027 and 2030.

LiveWire Calgary has learned that during a closed-door meeting earlier this summer, councillors voted 8-7 in favour of administration providing an updated review of the proposed budget for Sept. 22, with annual property tax revenue increases of 15 per cent, 12.5 per cent, 9 per cent, and six per cent in the final year.

City administration was also asked to provide preliminary key performance indicators and deliverables aligned with key strategic priorities, assessed against the operating and capital spending provided through the updated revenue projection.

In 2025, the last year of a four-year budget, the current Calgary city council whittled a projected six per cent property tax increase to a little more than one per cent.

The City of Calgary, in an emailed response to LWC, said they continue to develop the 2027 to 2030 budget, focusing on services and infrastructure that Calgarians rely on daily.

“Council provided funding guidance that Administration requires to refine and prioritize budget requests that help form the creation of the budget document,” they said.

“These are not approved or final numbers and do not represent the tax change on an individual property owner.”

The City of Calgary said that they will release the complete budget document in November, in adherence to city council’s approved timelines and public notification process.

Mayor Jeromy Farkas, speaking to reporters outside Calgary city council chambers on Wednesday, said council hasn’t proposed any property tax increase at this point.

Over the past several months, they’ve been hearing from civic partners, community partners, and other third parties pushing for more support. Farkas said they also continue to deal with issues around addiction, recovery and treatment, along with things like a Low-Income Transit pass that has been downloaded to them by the province.

Not to mention a massive infrastructure deficit that’s topped $55 billion. Earlier this year, Acting COO Michael Thompson told councillors that Calgary infrastructure spending had to be bumped up to $5 billion annually to start catching up.

“When you take a look at all of the requests that the city council has received, it certainly adds up to a big number, and that’s why our four-year budget is so important,” Mayor Farkas said.

“I’m sure a big number is floating around there, but that’s not direction from the city council. That’s simply just the total that’s been asked from everybody. And just because you ask for something doesn’t mean that you get it.”

Mayor Farkas has also said on multiple occasions that the City of Calgary needs to start seeing more money back from the provincial government. Currently, 42 cents of every property tax dollar goes to the provincial government.

Longstanding concerns that need to be addressed: Coun. Clark

Ward 9 Coun. Harrison Clark, however, said that as a born-and-raised Calgarian who has stepped into a position of authority and responsibility, he thinks it’s time to address longstanding concerns that Calgarians have.

“We’ve watched a number of things happen over the course of the last number of years, money being spent in ways that I personally wouldn’t have spent it, and we’ve landed in a place where the Bears Paw feeder main is broken twice in 18 months,” he said.

Given Calgary’s needs, Clark said he didn’t want to continue to ignore the needs, kicking the can down the road. Though he doesn’t believe it can be solved in one budget cycle.

“This way we sell low taxes at the expense of the rot of our infrastructure… is it truly a low tax rate? Because we now have a 55-billion-dollar bill sitting here at the finish line,” he said.

“I think Calgarians elected an almost entirely new council for a fresh set of eyes to come in. They demanded transparency and openness, and that’s what I think we will look to do. We can appreciate it is not politically wise for me to come forward and tell the truth, which is a sad state of affairs for politics in all cases. But the reality is, the responsibility is to come forward and do something.”

Ward 10 Coun. Andre Chabot said that while they’ve identified a significant infrastructure deficit, city council has to be realistic and not put people out of their homes with a property tax increase. 

If a generalized 15 per cent were tacked on to a typical $700,000 single-family home for 2027, it would amount to an additional ~$40 per month.

“From my perspective, I always look at what is reasonable insofar as the everyday taxpayer is concerned for a tax increase, as well as trying to make ends meet insofar as our infrastructure deficit,” Chabot told LWC.

Chabot said more must be done to bring the provincial and federal governments to the table to help Calgary tackle some of the infrastructure challenges they face. Some of the immediate issues could be tackled with one-time funding from other orders of government.

As far as Calgary goes, Chabot admitted there’s going to be a property tax increase, likely something that’s above what’s been typical, but below the actual need.

“We still do have a lower tax rate than any other major city in Canada, so I think there is room for us to increase our taxes, a modest increase, and still remain competitive insofar as larger urban centers are concerned,” Chabot said.