5 Calgary councillors call for budget amendments to freeze property taxes

Five of the councillors debating the City of Calgary's proposed budget for next year are calling for 20 amendments, which they suggest could roll back the 3.6 per cent property tax hike.

According to a news release sent Tuesday morning, councillors Sonya Sharp, Dan McLean, Jennifer Wyness, Andre Chabot and Terry Wong are planning to present various amendments this week, as budget deliberations enter their second day at city hall.

Though the full list of amendments hasn't yet been revealed, Sharp says none of the amendments would affect front-line services that Calgarians rely on.

"We really wanted to make sure we weren't impacting transit, safety, front-line services. We went deeper in and said, 'What are things that won't affect Calgarians right out front?' We're not going in to cut transit, we're not cutting police or fire," Sharp told reporters at city hall on Tuesday. 

"We looked at the document and said, 'yeah this makes sense to Calgarians, they want all of these things, so what are other ways we can find savings in the corporation?'"

One of the key amendments, which is being proposed by councillors Sharp and McLean, is to combine the city's chief administrative officer (CAO) and chief operating officer (COO) positions — roles held by David Duckworth and Stuart Dalgleish, respectively, to "eliminate redundant, high-cost roles," reads the release.

Duckworth, who is in charge of the structure of administration's bureaucracy, created the new COO position just over a year ago, and appointed Dalgleish, who already worked within the city, with no changes to his pay. 

Duckworth also changed his title from city manager to CAO, conforming with the position's legal name in the Municipal Government Act and aligning Duckworth with his counterparts in other municipalities in the province as well as elsewhere in Canada.

The changes, according to the city, were intended to improve focus on service delivery.

Mayor Jyoti Gondek told reporters on Tuesday that the decision to change any jobs in city administration would fall to Duckworth, and that while councillors can advise Duckworth, the decision is ultimately his to make.

"That is not the call of city council," said Gondek, adding that operations within the city are separate from the city's governance procedures.

Another significant proposal comes from Ward 10's Chabot and Ward 7's Wong, who want to eliminate the proposed one per cent tax shift from business to residential properties, in order to reduce the tax hike for homeowners.

Also according to the news release, councillor Wyness is concerned about the city's plan to purchase electric buses, which she believes will cost more than other bus types and cause further wear on the city's roads. 

She, along with McLean, is asking the city to shift from buying new electric buses to acquiring compressed natural gas vehicles, despite funding agreements that were already signed with other levels of government.