Alberta’s newly-tabled budget, and its impact on local property taxes, is facing criticism from Calgary council and the city’s mayor, who is calling for more transparency around how the money will be spent.
On Thursday, the provincial government unveiled its budget with a second straight increase to the education property tax rate to generate $3.6 billion; $1.2 billion of that has been requisitioned from the City of Calgary.
New city data shows the move means that 42 cents of every property tax dollar collected in Calgary will go to the provincial government.
At a press conference Friday, Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas expressed his disappointment in the budget’s impact on city taxpayers.
“It is looking a lot like Calgary’s deal in Alberta is very similar to what Danielle Smith says Alberta’s deal is in Canada,” Farkas said. “But, for us, we want to come to the table, we want to be collaborative, we want to work with the provincial government.”
Although Farkas noted some “positives” in the budget, including funding for affordable housing and for maintenance for seniors homes, he questioned what Calgarians are getting back from the money sent to the province.
The increase is expected to cost the typical Calgary homeowner an extra $340 this year.
In comparison, city council whittled down the property tax increase in its budget back in December to 1.6 per cent, which is expected to cost the average homeowner an extra $54 in 2026.
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“We did the work,” Farkas told reporters. “To have a scale of increase 10 times the tax increase being lobbed by the provincial government in a single year without any kind of head start or notice, that is just incredibly egregious.”
The provincial budget does include billions of dollars in continued and previously-announced investments for Calgary, including ongoing funding for the Green Line LRT, upgrades to Deerfoot Trail, and the infrastructure around the new event centre, as well as $67 million over three years for the city’s court of appeal, and $10 million for the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
Other provincial facilities in the city also saw a boost, including the Foothills Medical Centre Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, the Calgary Radiopharmaceutical Centre, the Alberta Kidney Care, Bethany Continuing Care Centre and the Bridgeland Riverside Continuing Care Centre.
However, Farkas said it was “sobering” the budget didn’t include a mention of the Prairie Economic Gateway project, or the Bearspaw feeder main, which has prompted an emergency replacement after two critical ruptures in less than two years.
“If there wasn’t a huge tax increase, I wouldn’t be expecting add-ons for the City of Calgary,” Farkas said.
Finance minister Nate Horner defended the tax hike during a post-budget address to an audience of the city’s business community at a luncheon hosted by the Calgary Chamber of Commerce.
Horner said the increase is to help fund a third of the education ministry’s operating budget, which was telegraphed in last year’s budget.
“We didn’t want to put it all onto folks in one year, so we staggered it over two,” Horner said. “I’m surprised that everyone is this surprised, to be honest.”
Horner told the audience that the education budget is $10.8 billion this year, and the construction of new schools is “dominating” the provincial capital budget.
He said out of 40 new schools announced this year, 14 will be in Calgary.
While the investment and new schools are welcomed, Ward 10 Coun. Andre Chabot, who was also in attendance at the event, said the funding is addressing matters that fall under provincial jurisdiction.
“The majority of the things he was talking about are things that fall under provincial obligations, not municipal obligations,” Chabot said. “He didn’t talk about water infrastructure for the City of Calgary, he talked about infrastructure, alright, but provincial infrastructure.”
Chabot said the budget is “seriously lacking” in support for municipal infrastructure.
Ward 13 Coun. Dan McLean said the property tax increase will be challenging to stomach for some residents.
“This is going to be a really tough sell to Calgarians,” McLean said. “I think it’s very important that we let our residents know what the province is requesting from them and what the city is taking from them, because this is a large increase.”
Farkas said city council will be discussing measures to respond to the property tax increase, which could include sending two separate property tax bills to Calgarians.
Late Friday, Farkas called a special council meeting on March 4 for that debate.
In comparison, the education property tax requisition is nearly $640 million in Edmonton, which is expected to cost the typical homeowner in that city an extra $154 this year.
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