Council opts to keep $42 million from provincial windfall
Posted Mar 21, 2011 9:49 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
City councillors have voted to put $42 million from property taxes towards infrastructure projects.
The city has the extra cash because the province asked for a smaller percentage of their property taxes in 2011.
In the end it’s a juggle. The money that will no longer go to the province will now be used for capital projects that Mayor Naheed Nenshi says are desperately needed.
“We have a big long list of priority projects across the city that are un-funded. Things like life cycle maintenance of the Ernie Star Arena,” he says.
Nenshi says they now have a stash of money to pay for the upgrades and provide better services to the city.
“Right now we spend hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars a year on metaphorical bailing wires and duct tape to keep the aging facilities going. This will allow us to put a new roof where a new roof is needed, to fix the insulation where that’s needed,” he says.
Although tax payers will still pay a 4.4 per cent increase at the end of the day, some alderman argue they would have rather given the extra $42 million back to Calgarians to use at their own discretion.
