Calgary’s city administration is seeking a budget which would require a 15% tax hike for citizens and it sounds all too familiar. The names of the people sitting in the mayor’s chair and city council seats have changed, but the games haven’t. Going into the past, former mayor Naheed Nenshi ushered in huge budget and tax increases throughout his administration. When questioned about the spending increases, Nenshi pointed to police and firefighting budgets and asked how much citizens wanted them cut. It was a favorite tactic of his. He pretended that only fire and police had room for spending cuts despite massive bureaucratic growth and funds wasted on embarrassing public art installations.Mayor Jeromy Farkas used to be very critical of the process. In 2018 while he was a city councillor, he said, “City council’s budget process is backwards. We base our expenses on a wish list that includes ever increasing employment and ever-increasing pay, and then when our income decreases, we set the rate to make the numbers work.” In the same column he went further and said, “Critics have suggested that if we don’t hike taxes every year, then there will be disastrous consequences to crucial services, or layoffs. These threats have never been substantiated.”Today, Mayor Farkas is defending the huge budget ask coming from the city administration. He’s not saying the proposed 15% tax hike is set in stone but also is not saying it’s time to get spending under control.The fiscal conservatism that Farkas built the foundation of his political career upon has all but vanished. He sounds more like Naheed Nenshi every day as a matter of fact. Cutting spending is never uttered and he has been harshly critical of councillors blowing the whistle on potential spending hikes and is getting into the habit of being deferential to city administration rather than offering oversight and critique.Farkas said, “This proposed budget is the starting point, not the final word … My priority is to protect the services Calgarians count on.”.Now, Farkas is critical of police spending. He said, “No department should be immune from scrutiny, and that includes the police.” It’s a fair enough comment, but he is rather silent on the rest of the city departments clamoring for more funding.As the budget deliberations begin, let’s go through some of the things that Mayor Farkas used to say were ripe for cutting.In 2018, he called for a freeze on raises for the mayor and council. In 2019, he went further and called for a 7.5% pay cut for the mayor and council. He called the pensions offered to the mayor and council members “gold-plated” and out of scale. Apparently the compensation is to scale today, however.Beyond cutting at the council chamber level, he proposed voluntary pay cuts of 5% for managers and 2.5% for union staff, in exchange for no layoffs, saying “we have to fish where the fish are.” He called for a 5% cut to everything as a matter of fact, “with the exception of emergency and essential services, whose overall budgets should remain static.” In 2019, Farkas proposed reviewing bikeways, city social media, taxis, parking enforcement, arts and culture, and pet licensing. On the Twelfth Avenue bike lane, he said it “could that have waited or been scrapped entirely,” and asked, “Why does everything the city does have to be the Cadillac version?” He has remained silent lately while bike lanes continue to be created at the expense of road infrastructure.Farkas offered years of language implying cuts were required for the City of Calgary on items from the arts funding to the Opportunity Calgary investment fund. It really built a sense of optimism among Calgarians that when he became mayor he would bring spending in order..Now, Mayor Farkas sounds almost indistinguishable from Naheed Nenshi as he puts forth no offers of spending restraint and runs cover for a city administration that’s out of control.The proposed 15% tax hike will be whittled down. Perhaps they will shoot for 8%, and then the mayor and council will pat themselves on the backs for having shown such restraint. This tactic of starting at a ridiculous number and moving down to a lesser but still ridiculous number has been happening over the budget cycles for decades. They count on the short memories of voters and rest assured, they will offer a 0% spending increase as they enter the next election year. Sadly, the tactic appears to work.Calgarians voted for change in 2025. They replaced the mayor with an ostensible fiscal hawk, and the majority of the council was replaced. Citizens are tired of being taxed to death and they took action in the election.Sadly, it appears that all Calgarians got for their efforts was more of the same.Let’s hope that this doesn’t turn to cynicism and lower electoral turnouts, though it’s understandable how voters can feel a sense of futility. They must remember what happened and fire the mayor and council again at the next possible opportunity. And again, after that, if that’s what it takes.Politicians who mislead the electorate only get away with it if the electorate doesn’t take the time to kick them out of office.
