Calgary Minute: Election Year, Public Art, and More Tax Hikes

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

This Week In Calgary:

• We are now less than one year away from the 2021 Calgary election, due to be held on the 18th of October, 2021! There are no Council meetings scheduled for this week, but Councillors will be kept busy with several important Committee meetings.
  
  
• The Priorities and Finance Committee will be meeting this morning and will debate the City's Growth Strategy and whether to approve new developments in the City's suburbs. They will also debate tax changes for Water Treatment and Supply, Wastewater Collection and Treatment, and Stormwater Management fees for Calgarians.
  
  
• In addition, the Standing Policy Committee on Community and Protective Services will meet on Tuesday morning, the Standing Policy Committee on Transportation and Transit will meet on Wednesday morning, while the meeting of the Standing Policy Committee on Utilities and Corporate Services that was scheduled for Wednesday afternoon has been cancelled.

Last Week In Calgary:

• Council delayed until next year a decision about what to do about Calgary's public art program. The program has been paused for the last three years after a string of controversies but the money that would have been spent in those years hasn't been returned to taxpayers. Instead, the money has simply been piling up in a bank account, which many are keen to get their hands on to spend on their own pet projects.
  
  
• Speaking of not giving anything back to taxpayers. Remember just a few months ago when Council promised no tax increases in 2021. Yeah, that's not happening - they're now talking about some truly massive increases for certain types of property.
  
  
• This poor treatment of taxpayers might finally be hurting Council's popularity though, with a new poll showing a significant weakening of support for the Mayor and Councillors' re-election bids.

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