Calgary Minute: Issue 389

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

📅 This Week In Calgary: 📅

• City Council has approved four years of water rate increases to help pay for a $6.5-billion capital program for Calgary's aging water, wastewater, and stormwater systems. The 9-6 vote sets annual increases of 19.9% for drinking water, 15.2% for wastewater, and 5.8% for stormwater from 2027 to 2030, with Councillors Kim Tyers, Jennifer Wyness, Dan McLean, Mike Jamieson, Landon Johnston, and Rob Ward opposed. A typical household's bill would rise from $119.21 a month in 2026 to $133.71 in 2027 and $206.94 by 2030, a 74% increase, while business rates would rise 86%, taking a medium-sized business using 400 cubic metres a month from $1,661.33 to $3,093.19. Mayor Jeromy Farkas called the hikes an accountability moment after more than a decade of underinvestment, highlighted by two ruptures of the Bearspaw South feeder main, and suggested businesses use less water to reduce their costs. Ward 4 Councillor D.J. Kelly said he supported the increase reluctantly because he saw no other choice, while McLean said other options such as municipal bonds should have been explored first, and Calgary Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Deborah Yedlin called the hikes "egregious" for businesses. Council also approved an amendment from Ward 10 Councillor Andre Chabot to review the rates next year rather than in 2028, in case provincial or federal funding comes through. The rates are not final until Council approves the 2027-2030 budget, which it will deliberate in late November.
  
  
• Administration has put prices on four ways to complete MAX Green, the bus rapid transit line between Keystone Hills and downtown, ranging from about $511 million to about $2.1 billion. The Executive Committee will meet tomorrow at 9:30 am, and one of the items on its agenda is the report, which serves what Administration calls Calgary's busiest bus corridor. The cheapest option would run dedicated curbside bus lanes along existing roads with limited land acquisition, while a mixed curbside and median design would cost about $674 million. A continuous median transitway would cost about $1.5 billion, and building the transitway within the future Green Line right-of-way would cost about $2.1 billion, requiring the most property acquisition and the longest timeline. Administration cautions that more spending may not bring proportional gains in service or ridership, and the estimates are early-stage figures that include land. No funding is requested now, but the 2027-2030 budget will include about $1 million to plan a downtown bus loop on 5th and 6th Avenue S, along with investments in Crescent Heights and the Keystone Hills terminal. The Committee is being asked to recommend that Administration report back by the end of September 2027 on the trade-offs of transit-only lanes, including impacts on business access, parking, and nearby communities.
  
  
• Also on the budget, the Calgary Police Service is asking City Council for more than $3.1 billion in operating funding over the next four years, the largest budget request in its history. Annual operating spending would rise from $684.5 million in 2026 to $816.7 million by 2030, a 19% increase, alongside a $191.9-million capital budget that is 73% larger than the last one, with more than a third of it for the vehicle fleet. The service plans to add 309 officers to its current 2,304, along with about 215 civilian positions, to reverse a decline from 167 officers per 100,000 residents in 2017 to 144 in 2026, though even with full funding the ratio would only reach 155 by 2030. Police Chief Katie McLellan warned of "major impacts" on public safety and response times if Council does not approve the full request, and said the service probably needs double the number of officers it is asking for. Mayor Jeromy Farkas called the request reasonable, though it leaves out the downtown police station he campaigned on, which McLellan said was lower on the priority list. Ward 2 Councillor Jennifer Wyness wants to make sure approved funding is actually spent, after the Calgary Police Commission said $28 million the previous council approved from a City reserve in 2025 was never used.
  
  
• The City of Calgary has released what it paid the independent panel that reviewed the 2024 rupture of the Bearspaw South feeder main, revealing a total cost of about $2.3 million, with $1,752,414 going to panel chair Siegfried Kiefer. Kiefer, a retired ATCO executive, was paid by the hour and logged 1,735 hours over the nine-month review, while the five other panel members were each paid a fixed fee of $79,600. Council had been told in late 2024 that the review would cost between $1 million and $2 million, and the City's memo shows the final cost exceeded the approved budget by more than $300,000. The City also paid $126,000 to an advisory group that worked on implementing the panel's recommendations this year, bringing the full cost of the work, with associated costs and staff time, to $2.39 million. Ward 2 Councillor Jennifer Wyness, whose motion led to the release, said it was City officials and not Council who agreed to the hourly pay, and she and Ward 13 Councillor Dan McLean want fixed fees to be the standard for future panels, along with regular reports to Council on spending. Mayor Jeromy Farkas said the cost was higher than he would like but was set by the previous council in an emergency, and that the City's new Water Utility Oversight Board will have hard caps on compensation rather than hourly rates.
  
  
• Ward 13 Councillor Dan McLean wants the City to open talks with the Province on jointly funding the Flourish Centre, a proposed $250-million recreation facility next to the Ring Road in Alpine Park. His notice of motion goes to the Executive Committee, which meets tomorrow at 9:30 am. The roughly 427,000-square-foot centre, proposed by the Flourish Foundation, would include an indoor fieldhouse, six gymnasiums, two ice rinks, a 500-seat theatre, and space for a Calgary Public Library branch. The Foundation is seeking $80 million from the City, $80 million from the Province, $50 million from the federal government, and $40 million from the community, and the motion says it has already secured $34 million in philanthropic contributions. According to McLean, provincial officials would consider capital funding only if the City is a concurrent funding partner, and the Foundation warns it could lose its donors without near-term progress. The project is not funded in the City's capital plan, and McLean says the motion does not commit the City to funding it. If forwarded, the motion would go to Council on November 17th, with Administration to report back by the end of March 2027.

🚨 This Week’s Action Item: 🚨

The City of Calgary is asking residents to help shape an updated cultural plan, which will set a long-term vision for arts, culture, music, and the creative economy and guide future investments, policy, and partnerships for the next 30 years.

Calgarians can share what matters to them by completing the City's online survey, which closes November 15th.

The feedback will shape the next phase of engagement in spring 2027, and the proposed plan is set to go to Council in late 2027.

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