Proposed Calgary budget adjustments would see 3.6% property tax increase

The city is proposing a 3.6-per cent property tax increase as part of its budget adjustments for 2025.

It had earlier projected a 4.5-per cent overall tax hike, but administration said it has made some changes in order to roll that back slightly, partly by using millions of dollars of income from its investments.

In September, senior officials suggested that next year’s property tax increase would need to be bumped up due to growth demands.

But on Tuesday morning, officials said they would be able to maintain the council-approved increase of 3.6 per cent.

Officials said it was made possible after the city determined a higher amount of investment income could be allocated to the operating budget.

“Since September, we’ve closely examined our investments and funding priorities, employing various strategies to identify internal funding and efficiencies,” said Les Tochor, the city’s acting chief financial officer, in a release.

“By identifying additional investment income, we eliminated the additional 0.9 per cent property tax increase proposed in September, reducing the 2025 property tax increase to council’s pre-approved 3.6 per cent.”

City administration is also proposing an increase in user fees for waste and recycling and for water, stating that it would fund infrastructure for those services.

Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek had said she was not not happy that the starting point for this year’s budget debate was higher than council expected.

On Tuesday, David Duckworth, Calgary’s chief administrative officer, said the proposed budget adjustments were intended to align with the priorities of residents.

“Mayor Gondek, thank you for challenging my team and I over the last two months to find a way to refine administration’s recommendations,” Duckworth told council.

The city says that for a typical single residential property assessed at the median value of $700,000 in 2025, with average water usage, the owner would pay an estimated additional $8.37 in property tax and $5.09 in waste and recycling and water utilities per month.

Council is set to begin its annual budget debate on Nov. 18.

More to come