Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas is disappointed and upset with what he called an historic property tax increase on Calgarians.
“The provincial government has just imposed the largest property tax increase on Calgarians in history,” said Farkas.
“In 2026, Alberta is increasing its share of your property tax bill by 21.05%. Now, nearly 42% of every residential property tax dollar goes directly to the province, and the city is legally required to collect this massive tax increase.”
Alberta’s tax increase will see the average Calgary homeowner endure a hike of approximately $350 per year, “more than double what they're asking Edmonton to pay,” said Farkas.
Edmontonians will see an average increase of about $150 this year.
Calgary accounts for more than a third of Alberta’s education tax base, which is one reason Calgarians will pay more. Another reason is the amount of tax paid is based on the assessed value of a homeowner’s property.
The average home price in Calgary is higher than in Edmonton. The province increased the education property tax rate from $2.72 to $2.84 per $1,000 of assessed value this year.
The tax increase is just more of the same, said Farkas.
“The provincial government has increased their property taxes on Calgarians by 57% over four years, well above inflation and population growth,” he said.
At a Friday press conference, Farkas took a dig at Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, but added he wanted to work with the province.
“It is looking a lot like Calgary’s deal in Alberta is very similar to what Danielle Smith says Alberta’s deal is in Canada,” he said. “But, for us, we want to come to the table, we want to be collaborative, we want to work with the provincial government.”
“It bears the bigger and the deeper transparency question. Maybe most Calgarians will open their property tax bills and they will assume that most, if not all of the money is going to the city for city priorities.”
In January, Calgary city council kept the 2026 property tax increase to less than 2%.
“City council cares about affordability,” said Farkas. “We controlled costs, reduced a 5.4% tax increase to 1.81%, and are delivering on safety and core infrastructure investments.”
Farkas has scheduled an emergency meeting of city council on Wednesday to fully assess the ramifications.
The Alberta government does send money back to Calgary and Edmonton.
According to information on its website, the province uses the Local Government Fiscal Framework (LGFF) to share provincial infrastructure funding with municipalities.
For the 2026 fiscal year, the combined amount set aside for Calgary and Edmonton is $423 million in capital funding based on a formula tied to population, education tax requisitions and road length.
Of that money, $249 million is expected to go to Calgary, with Edmonton receiving approximately $179 million.
These monies are capital infrastructure grants; there is other funding, including transit operating costs or services, such as low-income transit pass subsidies of between $5 million and $6 million per city per year.
According to a note from the Fraser Institute (Fraser), the Alberta government’s fiscal framework, mandates it must return to a balanced budget within three years.
“But there’s no consequence for non-compliance. In fact, the government, or any future government, can ignore, change or eliminate this rule at any time, as the Smith government demonstrated in Thursday’s budget,” reads the note. “If the Smith government truly wants to set Alberta on a new path, it must reduce spending.”
Fraser recommends eliminating what it calls waste such as business subsidies on which the government spends billions annually but does little if anything for widespread economic growth.
“And it should review and reduce employee compensation, which accounts for roughly 50% of the government’s total operating spending,” reads the note. “For perspective, government-sector job growth (federal, provincial, local) in Alberta grew by 17.9% from 2014 to 2015, while private-sector job growth increased 10% and total compensation for provincial government jobs has markedly increased in recent years.”
The emergency meeting of Calgary city council is 9:30am, Wednesday, in council chambers.
