Calgary Minute: Property Taxes, Ethics Investigation, and Climate Strategy Passed

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

This Week In Calgary:

• Council is in recess this week. There are no meetings at City Hall until July 20th.
  
  
• Of course, there is plenty to do in the city this week with the Calgary Stampede in full swing. Pancake breakfasts, corndogs, midway rides, rodeo, and an evening fireworks spectacular are available for the entire week. Are you headed down to the grounds?
  
  
• More downtown office space will be converted to residential spaces. ​​United Place and Canadian Centre, both on Fourth Avenue, will have their vacant office spaces turned into 306 homes. The cash for the conversion comes from the $100-million Downtown Calgary Development Incentive Program.

Last Week In Calgary:

• City Council voted to adopt the crazy climate plan we’ve been telling you about for the last couple of weeks. The “Calgary Climate Strategy - Pathways to 2050”, an $87-billion “plan” to burden taxpayers with climate-related costs, was passed 9-6. Mayor Gondek and Councillors Carra, Demong, Mian, Dhaliwal, Wong, Spencer, Penner, and Walcott voted for the plan. Councillors Chu, Sharp, Chabot, Pootmans, Wyness, and McLean were opposed. Throughout the meeting, there were very few details about the exact costs and plans to bring Calgary to net-zero with administration indicating that more details would be available later in the year at budget time. We think there is still time to stop this madness, so please sign our petition and voice your opinion before we get too far into the budget process.
  
  
• An investigation by the Integrity Commissioner was the subject of a lengthy in-camera discussion at the last City Council meeting. The Integrity Commissioner found that Ward 9 Councillor Gian-Carlo Carra failed to disclose his financial interest in a property in Inglewood and recommended that he attend records management and ethics training as well as issue a letter of apology to Calgarians. Council agreed with those recommendations, but Councillor Jennifer Wyness says this isn't sufficient and wants the issue referred to the Police for further investigation.
  
  
• A budget update revealed that property taxes will likely be increasing in each of the next four years. (Big surprise...!) The projected average annual property tax hike is 3.65% per year over the next four years, with a potential 4.4% increase next year. Don't forget, that's just the current estimate - who knows what the increases will actually end up being. Hold on to your wallets, folks!

-----

Donate:

Common Sense Calgary doesn't accept any government funding and never will. We think you should be free to choose, for yourself, which organizations to support. If you're in a position to contribute financially, you can make a donation here.

-----

Share:

If you're not in a position to donate, we understand, but if you appreciate our work, you can help by spreading our message. Please email this post to your friends, share it on Facebook or Twitter, and help make sure every Calgarian knows what's really going on at City Hall.