Calgary city council has agreed to cancel the municipal portion of the Calgary Housing Company’s 2017 property tax bill after an impassioned plea from one city councillor.
Coun. Brian Pincott told council the company, which operates and manages more than 10,000 subsidized and affordable housing units, might have to close some of their properties due to declining revenues and increasing maintenance costs.
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“A bunch of our affordable housing units are what we call RGI, or rent-geared-to-income. As incomes are dropping, the rent goes down, and we get less revenue,” Pincott said.
Pincott had asked council to cancel the entire property tax bill of $2,178,761. Instead, the group agreed to only cancel the municipal portion, which amounts to roughly $1.33-million.
The remaining property tax money goes to the provincial government. Council said it’s up to the NDP government to make a decision on whether or not to return that money to the company.