Mayor says Calgary 'breathing a sigh of relief' over budget

Most Calgarians are "breathing a sigh of relief" over a city budget thatmeans the average homeowner will pay an extra $60 in property taxes next year, says Mayor Dave Bronconnier.

City council passed the 2009-11 budget on Thursday evening after about 50 hours of going through it line by line, looking for ways to soften a property tax increase.

Calgary property owners will see a tax hike of 5.3 per cent in 2009, 6.1 per cent in 2010 and 6.7 per cent in 2011, much more palatable numbers than the 9.6, 6.8 and 6.9 per cent hikes proposed earlier this month.

That translates to $60 more in property taxes next year, less than the originally proposed $99, for the average home valued at $430,000.

"I think most Calgarians are breathing a sigh of relief and saying 'Oh good,'" he said.

The budget passed by a vote of 11-4 with Diane Colley-Urquhart, Andre Chabot, Ric McIver and Joe Connelly opposing it. Their last-minute attempt to send the budget back to city staff failed.

"The bigger question long-term of cost control still needs to be addressed," McIver said. "Most of the reductions came at the hands of financial mechanisms or the province taking ambulance [service] off our hands. There were some genuine expenditure reductions, but that should have been the bulk of it in my view."

Colley-Urquhart had been leading a charge to introduce a one-year budget with a tax hike close to the annual rate of inflation, which is around four to five per cent. But by Thursday, that offensive crumbled and council was able to pass the three-year budget.

In total, aldermen removed about $20 million in expenses from a proposed $2.5-billion budget for 2009.

Council also passed a motion Thursday by Bronconnier under whichthe city-owned Enmax will divert an additional $8 million, originally slated for parks, to the city's general revenues, on top of the utility's annual $35-million contribution to city coffers.

But while taxes are going down, user fees are going up.

Council imposed a $3 daily fee for park-and-ride lots, and a $12 monthly fee for recycling and garbage pickup. Both new fees kick in next year.

Water, sewer and storm drain rates will also be going up aboutfive per cent a year, but council won't ratify that decision until December.