Calgary council approves 8.9% residential property tax increase, slams provincial rate hike

Brendan Coulter · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 19, 2025 8:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 11 minutes ago

Calgary homeowners volition wage 8.9 per cent much successful spot taxes successful 2025, contempt what the metropolis is calling the lowest municipal spot taxation complaint hike of each large cities successful Canada.

Calgary metropolis assembly approved the complaint alteration connected Tuesday, aft the state revealed successful its caller fund that it volition cod much successful spot taxes to money rising acquisition costs.

The metropolis has finalized a 3.4 per cent summation successful municipal spot taxation rates.

Meanwhile, the provincial information of spot taxes climbed by 17.5 per cent this year, totalling much than $1 billion.

It's the astir immoderate Alberta municipality is sending the province, per capita, according to the city. 

"It is simply a important summation implicit erstwhile years, and it is not thing that they indicated to america successful November erstwhile we were deliberating the budget," said Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek. 

"Would person been bully to cognize that they were going to hammer done their committedness to chopped your income taxes. But conjecture what, Calgary? You're going to marque up for that successful your spot taxes." 

There volition beryllium an wide spot taxation hike of 6.4 per cent, with residential spot taxes expanding by 8.9 per cent, and non-residential properties expanding by 2.8 per cent implicit past year. 

Homeowners volition wage an further $352 successful spot taxes for a emblematic $697,000 single-family home, according to the city.

The municipal spot taxation complaint summation translates to an added $134 for a emblematic single-family home, portion the provincial spot taxation summation volition outgo those spot owners different $218, according to the city.

Ward 14 Coun. Peter Demong has concerns astir explaining the complaint hike to his constituents. 

"We get raked implicit the coals for months connected end on a 3.5 to 5 per cent spot taxation increase," helium said during Tuesday's assembly meeting.

"I've been doing this for 14 years and this is the astir egregious concern I've ever travel across. It's perfectly laughable." 

The metropolis estimates it volition outgo $10 cardinal to cod the $1 cardinal successful acquisition spot taxes for the province. 

Council agreed to measure the Alberta authorities for the outgo of collecting that wealth connected Tuesday.

"We are doing their invoicing for them. They are taking 37 per cent of the taxes that we are collecting from residential properties," said Gondek. "This isn't a governmental stunt. This wasn't conscionable a whim. This is thing that we request to instrumentality seriously."

Ward 10 Coun. Andre Chabot said the metropolis could see sending residents abstracted bills for municipal and provincial spot taxes, to marque it wide who's liable for raising taxes. 

"People don't instrumentality the clip to look astatine who it is, what wealth is going where. All they spot is this is what I person to pay, this is however overmuch it's changed twelvemonth implicit year. We get the blasted for each of it," said Chabot.

"It's a immense summation ... It's truly hard for Calgarians to sorb that oregon adjacent to rationalize wherefore there's specified a immense summation twelvemonth implicit year."

But the state says, if Calgarians are upset astir shelling retired much money, they should constituent their digit astatine metropolis hall. 

"City assembly is making an effort to prevention their re-election campaigns by blaming their rampant overspending connected the province," a spokesperson for the concern curate said successful a connection Tuesday. 

"If the metropolis can't negociate collecting the taxes, we're definite idiosyncratic volition measurement guardant successful October's predetermination that can."

The connection besides said 18 caller schools successful Calgary and the surrounding country were included successful the 2025 budget, and the provincial spot taxation summation successful Calgary volition not travel adjacent to backing the outgo of those schools.

Property taxation gross makes up 29 per cent of the acquisition operating fund successful Alberta. 

The state froze acquisition taxes past year. The taxation rates successful the coming fiscal twelvemonth volition beryllium $2.72 per $1,000 assessed values for homes and farms, and $4.00 per $1,000 for commercialized properties.

Alberta lowered income taxes for astir each moving residents successful the 2025 budget. 

Calgary spot owners volition person their bills successful May and payments are owed by June 30.