City asks Calgarians: What should we cut?
When the City of Calgary looked out into the future in 2014, they were looking from a place of prosperity. Where oil prices were high and employment rates were just as high. Folks could absorb a hike in property tax in exchange for improved services from the City.
Today it’s a different picture and reaction to 2016 taxes from Calgarians is fairly negative. And, there’s another 4% or so hike coming in 2017.
Take for example, 34-year-old Dan Willmott who recently redeveloped a property in the South West community of Wildwood. Built from the foundation up on a 60-foot wide lot, the $550,000 bungalow became a $1.7 million dollar two-storey home and property taxes doubled. Now, the young man’s bill is over $700 a month. Luckily, there are two incomes in his household but others with luxury homes in Calgary are not so fortunate. The tax bill on inner-city Calgary communities is extremely high while luxury homes in outer suburban communities such as Mahogany will take a few years to catch up.
What the City of Calgary is doing
Because times have changed since the City adopted its four-year tax plan and not so many people are willing to absorb higher taxes in exchange for more services, it’s looking for public feedback.
Perhaps you saw the City’s mobile feedback buses parked in several communities, staffed with people looking for ideas from residents. The buses went to where people gather, with the idea that if the City went to the people there would be more engagement than if the people were asked to go to the City
Based on resident feedback, Calgary Councilors are prepared to make adjustments to the Action Plan which was laid out in 2014. In particularly, Councilor Diane Colley-Urquhart has stressed that every tax payer in Calgary has to help council figure out which city services can be axed so that they can get the property tax hike down to zero for 2017. It’s estimated that an additional $48 million needs to be found, either from cutting from city spending or from the contingency fund, aka the City of Calgary’s Rainy Day fund.
What to cut?
The issue remains, what can Calgarians do without – it’s what Colley-Urquhart calls the million dollar question. There have been no easy answers from the mobile feedback centres either where people have been expressing their anger over escalating property taxes, especially in luxury neighbourhoods such as Elbow Park. In this community, there are many elderly people who have lived in the more modest bungalows on the neighbourhood’s western edge, close to 14 Street SW. These people on fixed incomes are in a huge pickle paying incredibly high taxes on a home that the city has deemed expensive. It wasn’t expensive when they moved in 50 years ago.
No one wants to touch anything that involves senior citizens, such as bus passes. Salaries at City Hall may be a recommendation from many
For those wishing to add their voice, there is an Action Plan survey for the adjustment which is planned for this November. The online survey can be found on the City of Calgary website.