Calgary city council continues to debate dozens of amendments to next year's budget as Tuesday marked its seventh day of discussions.
As of Tuesday evening, the council had discussed and voted on about 20 proposed changes to the spending plan, with several more remaining to be made.
“It was a little slower than the previous budget debate, but it actually produced better results in terms of the investments we're making and it also reduces the burden on taxpayers,” Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas told reporters.
The budget proposed an overall property tax increase of 3.6 percent, but as of Tuesday evening that increase is now pegged at 1.38 percent after dropping to 1.18 percent during the debate.
The property tax increase in its current form would cost the typical homeowner an additional $3.90 per month, Farkas said.
But Calgarians are set to pay more for transit after city council voted to tariff increase beyond what was budgeted.
Starting January 1, 2026, single tickets for adults will increase in price by 20 cents to $4, while monthly passes will increase from $4 to $126 per month, and monthly passes for youth will increase from $86 to $92 per month.
The move is expected to generate an additional $4 million in annual revenue for Calgary Transit.
“I don't think we need to raise transit rates at a time when we have an affordability crisis,” said District 1 Coun. Kim Tyers, one of seven council members who voted against the rate increase.
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Calgary Transit did receive an increase in funding through District 7 Amendment Mike Atkinson, which provided an additional $1 million in funding for the core transit network and $6 million for the core network funded by property taxes.
The funding increase is consistent with RouteAhead, transit's service expansion strategy, which recommends a $15 million annual increase in operations. The budget initially proposed a $14 million increase in frequency, but only on key transit routes.
Ward 4 Count. DJ Kelly, who voted for both the rate increase and the funding increase, said both amendments are necessary.
“The only way a fare increase would make any sense is if we saw transit services improve,” he told reporters.
“That was the main thing for me, getting more money from Calgary Transit so we can improve the quality of service, frequency and reliability of our bus network.”
The council also gave the go-ahead to use $9 million in reserves to fund a pilot project aimed at improving safety at 12 CTrain stations across the city, which was proposed by District 6. John Pantazopoulos.
During the morning meeting, council members voted 9-6 to cut $9 million in one-time operating funding from the city's Climate and Environment Department budget. Councilmembers Schmidt, Kelly, Atkinson, Clark, Yule and Mayor Farkas opposed it.
Graph. Tyers, who imposed the cuts, initially intended to cut climate change spending by $38 million, but noted that her revised cuts would not affect some programs such as flood mitigation, habitat restoration or rain barrel rebates.
“This is funding to educate Calgarians through small initiatives,” Tyers told reporters. “I think this is a big win for the city council.”
Late Tuesday, the City Council approved more than $90 million in reserve funds for a number of recreational projects after dozens of speakers at last week's public budget hearing asked the council to fund GamePLAN, the city's strategy for creating recreational facilities.
District Amendment 5 Coun. Raj Dhaliwal requested $65 million from reserves to help finance the Northeast Sports Complex project, as well as an additional $28.7 million from reserve money to design and upgrade several sports parks and fields throughout the city.
While the first portions of the amendment were approved unanimously, another $3 million in reserves was also approved to fund design work on the proposed West County YMCA facility with help from Coun. Tyers is the only opposition voice.
“Don't get involved in politics because this is about the future of our children,” Dhaliwal said during his debate.
The other spending increase the council approved during Tuesday's debate came from District 8. Nathaniel Schmidt, which included $150,000 in one-time funding from reserves to continue street cleaning work near the Patient Welcome Center, as well as $1 million in one-time funding from reserves for the janitorial program at Central Memorial Park and Century Gardens downtown.
Several attempts to cut the budget, including the District 11 amendment. Rob Ward, who proposed 2.4 percent rate cuts to several inner city departments, was defeated.
The City Council will return to continue debate on Wednesday.
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