City of Calgary makes $198-million in changes to budget and business plan

Budget deliberations are finally done after three long days of meetings.
City officials have now tallied up the amount of changes they’ve made to the fiscal plan.

Council unanimously adopted the 2017 budget earlier this week in what Mayor Nenshi called record time.

Officials say the document will take into account adjustments that had been requested during public input sessions and help during these economic difficulties.

“These are challenging times but we are up to the challenge. We are all in this together and The City is taking action to keep taxes low, stimulate the economy through investment, and continue providing the services needed to make Calgary a great place to make a living, a great place to make a life. We are working together to make a positive difference in the lives of Calgarians,” said the mayor.

It’ll include $198.6-million in benefits that citizens and businesses will receive from relief in taxes and fees, savings and targeted programs.

All property owners will see a tax freeze. It comes as officials lowered the increase from 4.7 to 1.5 per cent, council will also provide a one-time rebate in 2017 to all property owners to cover the increase.

Home owners, transit riders, recreation users, park users and business owners will see relief in transit fares, recreation, parks and pet service fees, planning, developing and fire code inspections and permits, landfill tipping fees and Green Cart program fees in 2017.
The low income transit pass will continue to be offered for the first quarter at the same rate after that it’ll operate on a sliding scale based on income.

There will also be economic help for community and social programs and small businesses.