Calgary’s proposed 2027-2030 budget is filled with bits of information that are useful in helping Calgarians understand the budget before them and the potential money being spent.
These often get overlooked during reporting on the big ticket items like the overall property tax increase and things like water rates.
We’ve pored over the budget documents and gathered information on some of these interesting morsels, so readers have a better grasp of what’s behind the proposed Calgary property tax increases.
These are in no particular order.
- Each $25.6 million in additional spending equals one per cent on a typical single-family detached property tax increase. That means if councillors want to bring the property tax increase down by five per cent in 2027, there must be ~$128 million in potential budget reductions, or creative financial action (eg: use of the Fiscal Stability Reserve).
2. Home values of all types dropped in 2026, according to the city’s preliminary assessment roll. That means they’ve had to propose an increase in the mill rate applied to Calgary properties to achieve the revenue that’s needed to operate the city.
3. The City of Calgary is looking for $2.4 million (ongoing) starting in 2028 for third-party leased spaces to house an expanding Operational Services department. It says there is little administrative space left to allocate.
4. The City’s proposed zero-based review (ZBR) doesn’t get full funding through the four-year budget and “would need to be significantly slowed and may not be able to truly begin until funding becomes available in 2031”. A ZBR would identify efficiencies and potential cost savings in reviewed city business units.
5. The budget proposes the establishment of an 11-person Cyber Security Business Unit at an annual cost of roughly $2.2 million.
6. Councillor office budgets would increase by $1.4 million annually (starting in 2027). That’s an extra $100,000 per ward, plus there’s mention of annual inflationary increases to deal with increasing prices of goods and services used by ward offices.
7. The proposed extension of the Calgary Transit transfer window from 90 minutes to 120 minutes will cost $2 million annually (starting in 2027), and, according to the budget documents, impact 0.5 per cent of transit users.
8. The Calgary Police Commission (CPC) wants to increase its annual budget from $1.39 million annually (unchanged for the past eight years), to $3.19 million annually – or a roughly 230 per cent increase.
9. The $28 million photo-radar loss, which was covered by the City of Calgary’s Fiscal Stability Reserve in 2026, is funded from 2028 to 2030, but isn’t in 2027. The budget documents state that a “least-harm” approach will be taken to redirect resources to cover that shortfall.
10. Planning a wedding at Calgary’s Devonian Gardens? The cost will jump up 13 per cent in 2027, and then nearly another 10 per cent by 2030.
11. After approving $400,000 previously to keep the Inglewood Pool open, there’s another $200,000 one-time operating request to keep the pool open until the MNP expansion is done in Q2 of 2027. Without that cash, the city said the Inglewood Pool would have to close at the end of 2026.
12. Park group program fees are proposed to jump, with one-day program costs going up from $270 to $395, and one-hour programs go from $108 to $130. The City said that costs surpassed fees due to a pandemic-era freeze.
13. The city’s workforce is projected to grow from 19,411 to 22,946 by 2030, according to city budget documents. That’s an 18 per cent increase.
14. Calgary Transit needs an additional $1.4 million a year to account for contractor increases in delivering Calgary Transit Access services. The budget documents state that contracts have increased by 25 per cent, but they’ve only been able to cover 19.5 per cent. They said that trips may have to be turned away without the funding.
15. Due to provincial changes to municipal election laws, the City of Calgary Clerk’s Office wants $23.9 million to run the 2029 municipal election, with $22.2 million to run the actual election in that year. A report on the 2025 municipal election pegged that year’s cost at nearly $16 million. In 2021, the cost was $8.5 million.
Calgarians can make public submissions on the proposed new four-year budget, or arrange to be a speaker at the public hearing, which will begin on Nov. 23.
