CALGARY – City council has voted in favour of using an unexpected multimillion dollar tax surplus on local flood repair costs.
Councilors announced in April they would have an extra $52 million to spend, due to a discrepancy in taxes.
Originally, the mayor and city councilors debated five different uses for the money, including the lowering of tax rates for businesses – and investing in maintenance for older neighbourhoods.
They also held a series of public consultations to see how taxpayers thought the money would be best spent.
However, after the city was rocked by devastating flooding in late June, the mayor put forth a motion suggesting council should use the money to rebuild Calgary.
On Monday, councilors voted in favour of Nenshi’s motion.
The city has pegged the initial cost of the flood at $256.6 million, including damages to major parks, the Calgary Zoo, riverbanks and City Hall.
Initially, Nenshi had also suggested they should combine the windfall with another $52 million budgeted for next year, to give councilors a total of $104 million to use for flood mitigation and prevention.
However, councilors decided against that, and voted instead to discuss how to use the $52 million budgeted for 2014 in November, after the civic election.
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