CALGARY—The city is facing a tight budget over the next four-year funding cycle as the effects of Alberta’s oil and gas slump continue to echo.

City manager Jeff Fielding said the plan is about operating in a “restrained and constrained” capital environment. He called the plan a “responsible budget” based on the city’s current economic circumstances.

“I don’t have a lot of room to manoeuvre in this budget,” he said Wednesday.

“We don’t enjoy the same level of revenue we have had in the past, and as a consequence, we’ve had to downsize our organization and make critical decisions about service delivery and efficiencies and savings that we haven’t been faced with before.

The capital budget for the next four-year cycle totals $5.2 billion, including about $2.1 billion rolling over from capital commitments in previous years. The total new capital ask adds up to $1.9 billion.

That’s a big decrease — the city spent slightly less than that amount on capital projects in a single year during the last four-year cycle.

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Mayor Naheed Nenshi said the reduction can partly be explained by intentional investment the city made after Alberta’s economy soured.

“As part of our response to the economic downturn, and precisely because we had squirrelled money away in the good times, we were able to put a lot of money into the city economy over the last few years of economic downturn,” he said.

“Now that we’re in a different phase of economic recovery, there’s less need for that. While there is far less capital spending going forward, excluding the Green Line ... that is from a stimulus high. We’re moving to a more sustainable overall range of construction.”

The budget also includes $82 million of one-time funds for items such as snow and ice removal services.

After Wednesday’s public presentation, council will debate the budget details during the week of Nov. 26. The finalized budget will be approved once that discussion concludes.

Nenshi rejected the idea that the plan is an “austerity budget,” as some city councillors have termed it.

“This is a budget that invests in stuff people have told us is important to them while holding the line, as we always do, on taxes — ensuring our taxes remain the lowest in the country for our residences.”

TRANSIT

The city’s transit system is expected to face more riders over the next four years.

Budget documents outline plans to expand bus rapid transit (BRT) service — a previously approved capital project — as well as service to newer Calgary communities. Designing and constructing the Green Line expansion is also a goal for the city over the next four years, although it’ll need further capital. But while public transit will see noticeable increases to its operating budget — 10 per cent in 2019, and 3 per cent for subsequent years — it’ll see a reduction to capital funding.

All Calgary Transit fare categories would climb somewhat in price between 2019 and 2022, according to budget documents. An adult single ride would be $3.40 by 2019 and eventually rise to $3.75 by 2022. Meanwhile, seniors’ passes will go from $135 a year to $155 by the end of the four-year budget cycle, and the U-Pass would rise by $20 between 2019 and 2022 for both the fall and winter semesters.

Low-income transit passes will see slight increases in price — no more than $1.50 — in 2019 under the budget, but will depend on sliding-scale program funding, according to budget documents.

Buses will be used past their 16-year optimum lifespan, according to the budget, and four-car CTrain service will gradually be brought down to three-car, as 46 cars that have moved beyond their lifespan are decommissioned.

Nenshi said there isn’t any “imminent danger” of seeing CTrain service reduced to three cars. But over what he said would be a long period of time, as the oldest LRT cars can’t run any longer, there could be fewer cars in service.

“What this budget actually does is it puts more money into maintenance to keep those trains going longer,” he said. “Ultimately, we have to replace them.”

Budget documents say Calgary Transit’s reliability could go down, and there will be decreases in maintenance to buildings, such as stations, as well as light rail transit (LRT) systems and customer technologies.

Budget documents also detail plans to hire more peace officers, provide better training and support for front-line operators, and improve snow and ice control across the transit system.

HOUSING

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Affordable housing is looking at a $31-million boost, contingent on $75 million in grants from the province and feds. With these increased funds, the city intends to build or redevelop 487 affordable homes between 2019 and 2022.

Budget documents also say the increased funds could support two city programs — the Housing Incentive Program and the city’s land program — that are designed to assist non-profit housing developers. These programs could support them to build 1,900 affordable homes over the course of the four-year budget cycle.

TAXES

Property taxes are going up: 3.45 per cent in 2019, and 3 per cent for each of the remaining three years of the budget. For the average household, this will translate to an increase of roughly $60 per year, according to the City of Calgary. The average residential customer could see a slight decrease in their hydro bill, but an increase to waste and recycling costs.

Part of the tax increase is owed to the city’s approval of 14 new communities on Calgary’s outer edges. That growth requires more funding for services those neighbourhoods will need, and in August, council approved a property tax increase of up to 0.75 per cent to accommodate that.

The ongoing tax shift from downtown office towers to non-residential properties outside the core isn’t making its way into the budget. Fielding said city administration will recommend the city once again draw from its reserve funds to cap increases to property owners. It isn’t clear exactly how much they’ll need, but Fielding said the city likely won’t be able to hold increases at 5 per cent, as has been done in the past.

A report is set to come before council in early 2019 about what action could be taken on the tax shift issue.

ROADS AND SIDEWALKS

Calgary’s operating budget for sidewalks and pathways is climbing 5 per cent in 2019, but will see a major jump — 49 per cent, according to budget documents — in 2020. It’ll then drop by 13 per cent, and see a 3 per cent boost in 2022.

Budget documents propose cutting back on life-cycle maintenance of sidewalks, pedestrian bridges and the Plus-15, but expanding snow and ice removal on city sidewalks and pathways, as well as looking into stop-gap measures until the Main Streets initiative is finished.

Improving safety is a big part of the budget’s proposals for Calgary’s roads. The operating budget proposes modest increases — 1 per cent in 2019, jumping to 8 per cent in 2020, and then dropping to 4 per cent for 2021 and 2022 — but recommends less life-cycle maintenance on streets and bridges in the city.

The budget also calls for less investment in major transportation projects, such as highway interchanges or corridor expansions, and fewer engineering studies to advance current and future projects. This is thanks to constrained capital funding for the 2019-2022 budget cycle. No major projects will be pursued in Calgary’s established areas, budget documents say, which will “result in lower service levels as the city grows” and place further burdens on those repairing potholes.

INFRASTRUCTURE AND CAPITAL PROJECTS

There are still numerous infrastructure projects council is considering — such as a new arena and entertainment district, renovations to the BMO Centre and Arts Commons renovations — that aren’t included in the budget. Council will discuss whether they want to determine a funding source for that work moving forward.

POLICE AND EMERGENCY SERVICES

Calgary’s police operating budget isn’t seeing any decreases. It’ll hold at just over $401 million in 2019, and see a 2 per cent increase in both 2021 and 2022. That translates to 60 new full-time equivalent positions for each of the last two years of the budget cycle, but it’s unclear whether that means more front-line officers or other staff.

The budget documents also call for a total of $117 million between 2019 and 2022 to replace equipment and vehicles, including two police helicopters, and to deploy cameras at intersections with high collision rates.

However, Calgary’s fire and emergency response service operating budget is getting a 5 per cent cut in 2019, although it’ll see a 3 per cent increase in 2020 and a 5 per cent increase in 2021. And between 2020 and 2021, the Calgary Fire Department expects to hire 102 full-time equivalent positions. (Again, it isn’t clear whether these are front-line firefighters or other staff.)

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