Under Calgary’s proposed new four-year budget, city debt would more than double by 2030, with billions in infrastructure spending planned.

According to City of Calgary documents provided on Nov. 10 with the proposed 2027-2030 four-year budget, the city’s current outstanding debt is nearly $3.8 billion. By 2030, should the current plan be approved, that would jump to just over $10 billion.

Calculated including population projections from a January 2026 update, the net outstanding debt per capita would jump from $2,395 in 2026 to $5,943 by 2030.

“The City expects its overall debt to remain below the Council-approved debt limit, although debt will increase during the 2027–2030 budget period,” the documents read.

“This additional borrowing is needed to help pay for long-lived infrastructure, including major water utility projects and the Green Line. Although debt remains within Council-approved limits, more debt will increase the amount required for debt payments and reduce the funding flexibility available for future priorities.”

By 2030, the current budget estimates that Calgary will hit 80 per cent of its debt limit, up from a relatively stable 40 per cent from 2022 to 2026.

City of Calgary Chief Financial Officer Les Tochor said that the current capital program is two-and-a-half times the size of the prior four-year budget.

“We’re very attentively monitoring that really over the next 10-year window, because as was mentioned in previous meetings, our capital program is not just for the next four years. It’s a very big program, really, for the next 10 years,” he said.

Tochor said they would be managing cash flows, when they take out the debt, how it’s serviced and how it’s paid back over time.

“It’s the driving of the large capital program that is really creating that need for a much bigger debt load,” he said.

Debt servicing amount by 2030 could cost taxpayers $50 million

LWC asked the City of Calgary for the expected servicing costs on $10 billion in debt, and they acknowledged the request but didn’t respond by the time this story was published.

The projected debt is split between self-supported debt and tax-supported debt, according to the budget documents. Self-supported debt is paid through utility fees and levies, while tax-supported debt is paid through property tax revenues.

Tochor said that they estimate 1.9 per cent of tax revenue in 2030 would be required to service the tax-supported debt load – or roughly $50 million. For comparison, that would cover the bulk of $62 million proposed in 2030 for Route Ahead bus service increases.

“We have a long runway between now and the fourth year,” he said.

“Every year we adjust this plan. So, whether it’s capital programs that come in at different start dates, we have weather impacts, different things change in the environment we’re in, we’ll be adjusting that plan every year.”

Still, Ward 10 Coun. Andre Chabot said the debt increase is cause for some concern.

“As we reduce the amount of revenue, we also reduce our amount of debt that we can take on; they move in tandem. It’s not just one or the other,” he said.  

“So, it is something that I’m concerned about as far as how far we’re pushing the envelope.”

Chabot said there were ongoing conversations with Alberta’s Minister of Municipal Affairs to extend the amortization terms of municipal debt, particularly for longer-duration infrastructure.

“Currently, I think the maximum allowable term is 25 years, and then some of our infrastructure is projected to last beyond 50 years,” he said.

“So, why would you have to pay down your mortgage in 25 years if you know that the asset’s going to last well beyond that?”

Mayor Jeromy Farkas said that they have to manage the short- and long-term needs of Calgarians. He said citizens have told him that the city needs to invest in catching up on infrastructure.

“But we need to spread out the payback and pay period of those investments, which means that we’re not asking Calgarians to pay for all of it upfront,” he said.

“If we know that an asset is going to last 35 years, I think it makes sense, like any family would, to take out a mortgage. Especially if it’s an asset like a rec center that’s generating, say, fees or revenues from the people who use that facility to offset it.”

Calgary’s four-year budget deliberations begin on Nov. 23.