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For Calgary’s economy, 2019 was a terrible year, marked by ongoing troubles in the energy sector and a downturn in construction. Not surprisingly, the city’s weak economic performance has had an impact at the municipal level as well.

The City of Calgary is struggling financially and city council, led by Mayor Naheed Nenshi, has been making tough decisions on what to cut and who will pay more. But whether you call it a higher mill rate or increased user fees, those monies come from the same source: you and I.

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But the city does have another significant source of revenue under its control: dividends from its wholly-owned subsidiary, Enmax.

The city has approved changes where residential taxes will increase by 7.5 per cent and yet there is no planned increase in revenue from our $2.4-billion investment in Enmax. This begs the question: How is this fair to Calgarians?

In analyzing financial reports, statements and reviews from Enmax and comparing these to similar information from Epcor, the Edmonton-owned utility, it seems that Calgarians are getting a poor return on their investment. The data I collected indicates that if Calgary adopted a funding formula similar to Edmonton’s, city revenues from Enmax could double from $50 million to $100 million per year.