Calgary Minute: Budget Updates, 2021 Taxes, and a Goat Herd

Calgary Minute - Your weekly one-minute summary of Calgary politics

This Week In Calgary:

• This morning there will be a Combined Meeting of Council. Council will receive a wide range of reports including a COVID-19 budget update, a 2019 budget summary, a secret update on potential tax rates for 2021 (see below), an Airport LRT study, information on land expropriations needed for the Green Line, a large number of Land Use Amendments, and more.
  
  
• On Wednesday morning there will be a Standing Policy Committee on Utilities and Corporate Services meeting. Much of this meeting will be held in secret, but the committee will review information from the Organizational Health, Safety and Wellness 2019 Annual Report, and on Selling Prices for Road Rights of Way in Greenfield Areas.
  
  
• On Wednesday afternoon there will be a Standing Policy Committee on Transportation and Transit meeting. The committee will review mobility trends in Calgary, and receive a transit ridership and revenue update.

Last Week In Calgary:

• Last Tuesday's Priorities and Finance Committee rejected a recommendation for a property tax freeze for 2021 during a discussion intended to give direction to City officials leading up to the November budget process. Several councillors are pushing for the City to implement an actual, real, tax cut - something we have been promoting for years. This will be debated further today, so we'll keep you updated.
  
  
• The Calgary Stampede is seeking help from all three levels of government after the cancellation of the 2020 Stampede. The Stampede is not asking the City for cash, rather a change to the rules regarding their access to credit. Their current borrowing arrangement requires them to maintain a certain ratio of income to debt and with greatly reduced income this year, they are currently set to break that rule.
  
  
• The City of Calgary has hired a herd of goats to eat invasive weeds in the inner-city this summer. No word yet on whether or not the goats will receive one or two pensions.

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