Calgary city council has approved the final property tax rate for 2018 and because of actions in the provincial budget, homeowners are getting a small break on their bills.
Last November, during its budget adjustments, council approved a 0.09 per cent residential property tax hike. However, the province vacated $9 million in tax room to the city so the hike was reduced to 0.02 per cent.
Complicating matters is that last year’s tax bill included a one-time rebate which has to be paid this year, so Calgarians will pay 3.1 per cent more than they did in the previous year.
The increase on a median assessed home of $480,000.00 is $4.75 a month.
Coun. Gian-Carlo Carra questioned whether the city should grab the $9 million in tax room from the province and use it for city purposes. He proposed a one-time rebate of the money for this year but wanted a broader discussion on using the extra money for city projects.
“If we can carve more benefit out of that, we should have a conversation about that – and that’s what this asks,” he said. “If we decide to give back 50 cents per household a month then that’s our decision, but I think that we should really have a thoughtful conversation given the very pressing realities that face us.”
Coun. Druh Farrell agreed with Carra.
“We’ve got a lot on our plate that we keep on saying yes to including the Olympics and I’m not sure how we hope to fund some of these ventures,” she said.
However, council voted 9 to 5 in favour of giving the tax break to homeowners.
“With the economic environment, I think just under principle it’s not a large amount of money. Yes, we could use it for other purposes but under principle, it just shows good stewardship at this point to say, ‘let’s just give the money back,'” said Ward Sutherland.
The Ward 1 councillor said the time for his colleagues to push projects is during budget discussions and not on the floor of council when the final property tax bill is up for approval.
Councillors Chahal, Chu, Davison, Demong, Farkas, Gondek, Magliocca, Sutherland and Woolley voted to give taxpayers a break. Those who wanted to talk about keeping the money included Carra, Colley-Urquhart, Farrell, Jones and the mayor. Councillor Shane Keating was absent.
Property tax bills will be in the mail at the end of May and taxes are due by June 30.
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