Calgary business owners are set to gather Wednesday night amid concerns of rising costs to keep their doors open.

A town hall with policy leaders hopes to find long-term solutions that allow businesses to grow in the future, while also exploring issues that hinder development.

The event will begin at 6:30 p.m. at the Scarboro17 Sales Centre (103 17th Ave. S.W.).

A new, multi-family development is currently under construction at that location, but concerns from the site’s owner have sparked major concerns.

Jason M. Smith initiated the town hall in response to receiving an indemnity fee just under $400,000 instead of an original building permit of $120,000.

Smith says he worked tirelessly with the city to initiate construction, but was not informed of such an increase to his indemnity expense.

“My excitement of picking up the indemnity contract from the city roads turned to absolute shock when I saw the fee increased to $396,250 to include the newly added $270,000 excavation deposit, even though this is all taking place on private property,” Smith said.

“I have heard that Calgary is the only city in North America that requires these excavation deposits.”

Meanwhile, other business owners are also concerned about a lack of transparency and communication from the city amidst rising property taxes.

Kristi Stuart, co-founder of Barre Belle Inc., has been speaking out in Calgary’s business community.

“Like all Calgarians, business owners have been hit hard in this economic downturn. The cost of doing business has increased to a point where it is almost prohibitive to open and operate a business in Calgary,” she said.

“Our city council is about to start budget planning and if they get it wrong again, many of us will be forced to shut our doors for good.”

Smith agrees that closing more businesses is not the answer.

“Why are we being taxed at such a ridiculous rate, which, yeah sure, you get the higher tax to the city for the next six months, but when that business goes out of business you’re now getting nothing,” he said.

City council unanimously voted to cut $60 million from its budget to provide businesses with a 10 per cent reduction in property taxes this year.

However, the city will have even bigger decisions to make on how to provide relief or make additional cuts when budget deliberations take place in November.