It was a taxing day Wednesday in Calgary city council chambers during the special meeting called by Mayor Jeromy Farkas to review the education tax increase of 21.05% as announced in the Alberta budget last week.
Councillors spent most of the meeting asking questions of administration about various aspects of the Calgary budget they approved months ago, which included a pared down 1.81% property tax increase on Calgary homeowners and renters, compared to the 21.05% education tax increase.
Farkas has made his disgust of the provincial increase well-known and ended the questions with guns ablazing, including a question that may have revealed why he called the meeting.
“I remember being interviewed by a radio show host, Danielle Smith at the time, and she pitched the idea of the province completely getting out of collecting property taxes,” he said. “The conversation was what if that whole amount stayed with municipalities and the tradeoff would be a significant reduction in the one-to-one transfers?"
“There wouldn't be support for, say, lower transit passes and there wouldn't be the grants in place of taxes, but on the other side of the ledger, you'd have $1.25 billion.”
Farkas asked administration to investigate if, from all the various grants and other transfers and supports the city receives, whether that would be balanced out and if the current level of support for the city is in excess of that amount.
“I'm not sure if this is something that we'd be asking for, but I know that it's something that the premier, in her past life, is at least open to,” he said.
Farkas said the provincial property tax increase was 57% over the last four years, but was corrected by administration, saying it was 59%.
“Then, in terms of a dollar amount in that same period of time, that's about $1,100, the amount pf increase for the provincial portion on the median single-family home versus about a $400 increase on the City of Calgary’s portion,” he said.
Farkas had a few more shots, aiming at the province’s tax increase on a typical single-family home of 21.1%, equal to $339, while the city’s increase was 1.81%, equal to $49, for a total of $388.
“So, it's about one-seventh of the increase attributable to city and six-sevenths attributable to the provincial government, approximately,” he said, adding the provincial increase overall in Calgary is 20%, compared to 11% in Edmonton.
Then he fired the shot that hit the bullseye of his target, the Alberta government and equalization payments to Ottawa.
Speaking to Kate Martin, the city’s returning officer, he said, “I'm sure you've followed some of the previous referenda questions that the province has laid out, one on equalization. It seems to me we're in a very similar transfer payments situation as the municipal context as it compares to the rest of the province.”
Farkas asked about city council engaging in a plebiscite, “with a question of transfer payments to the Government of Alberta.”
Martin said the framework for a plebiscite is laid out in the Municipal Government Act.
“Should council decide to direct a question, there’s one of two ways about it,” said Martin. “It could be done as standalone question or it could be placed on a general municipal election ballot.”
She added it would take about six months from a decision to a city-wide election, saying it would cost approximately $12 million, compared to the general election last fall costing $16 million.
The meeting ended without an election discussion, so the possibility is still out there.