From transit to climate, Calgarians discuss proposed four-year budget – Calgary

More than 100 Calgarians lined up at City Hall on Tuesday to voice their opinions on the city’s budget for the next four years.

Public hearings on the second day of the city’s budget deliberations featured citizens and community organizations, with transportation and climate initiatives a common theme throughout the day.

Advocate for vulnerable Calgarians, Hilary Chappelle, spoke to the city council about accessibility challenges at bus stops.

Chappelle, who experienced homelessness eight years ago, also expressed concern about the rising cost of transportation passes for low-income people proposed in the budget.

“If our low-income transit pass for homeless people becomes more expensive, many of our friends at the Women’s Center will not be able to afford it,” she told Global News.

Improving Calgary transit services was a topic posed by several speakers in front of the council on Tuesday, with some speakers, like David Cooper, suggesting that trains should continue to operate during off-peak hours, such as in the evenings and on weekends. and to increase the frequency of buses.

Cooper, who runs Leading Mobility, said increasing the frequency of buses and trains to a minimum service standard of every 15 minutes can be achieved without significantly increasing budget funds.

“Calgary is one of the few cities that doesn’t have a minimum service standard. By redistributing services, we can do that within our existing budget,” Cooper said. “For the thousands of Calgarians who use[the service]there is a huge opportunity to improve[the service].”

Public transportation was one of several concerns for Molli Bennett, president of Bike Calgary. He called on the council to increase investment in active transport infrastructure in a “disappointing proposed budget.”

“We haven’t seen much growth in active transit, which is contrary to the policies the council has dictated to the administration,” Bennett told Global News.

The Calgary Climate Hub and several supporters in green scarves spent five minutes in front of the council to voice concerns about spending on proposed climate initiatives.

Several speakers criticized the proposed budget following last year’s declaration of a climate emergency and the council’s approval earlier this year of a strategy to reduce carbon emissions.

Climate Hub’s Steve Bentley told the council, “This budget should be our net zero launch.” Either you didn’t hit your zero goal, or you didn’t.

“Does this feel like a virtually zero launch budget for you? I don’t feel that.

Mayor Jyoti Gondec told reporters during an afternoon break that the council had taken an “important step” by declaring a climate emergency but still needed to deliver on its climate commitments.

“It will happen, and it will happen gradually,” Gondek said.

“I think the fact that we’ve really taken no action for years has brought us to this point and made us committed to doing better.”

Representatives of the city’s business community stood by all day advocating for a reduction in the non-resident tax.

Chamber of Commerce CEO Deborah Yedlin has called on the council to shift tax distributions to corporations. Currently, his 52% of the city’s property tax is covered by residential properties, and the remaining 48% is covered by businesses.

The Chamber’s proposal would shift the tax allocation to 60% on residential property by 2026, which Yedlin said would help the city’s competitiveness to attract investment.

“This isn’t just Calgary. It’s about how we attract talent, how we grow our economy, and how we stay competitive going forward,” said Yedlin of Global. told News.

“Let the ecosystem of startups that contribute to the diversification of our economy thrive. This is one way to do that.”

With the proposed overall tax increase next year at 4.4%, some lawmakers were surprised that no more speakers argued for tax cuts at Tuesday’s hearings.

“That’s not what I heard in the emails or surveys I’m looking at,” said First Ward Councilor Sonya Sharp.

Sharp pointed out that property taxes are a concern for many Calgarians, despite no speaker on the issue on Tuesday.

“In general, people who are really worried about taxes may not be able to come here or call,” Sharp said.

“So we have to look at that as well.”

Hearings on the proposed budget will continue Wednesday morning, followed by clarification questions from lawmakers.

After that, the city council plans to submit and discuss amendments to the draft budget.

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