CTF calls for spending restraint amid Calgary tax increase
Posted Dec 2, 2017 4:54 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A taxpayer lobby group is panning city council’s property tax increase for the new year. The Canadian Taxpayers Federation said City Hall could have cut spending, but instead, it voted for an increase that would have the average homeowner pay 3.8 per cent more in property taxes.
“You know we didn’t even see leadership at the top,” said Alberta Director Colin Craig. “You look at council’s golden pension plan, they should have lead by example and scaled that thing back and would have been a small step in the right direction If they had done other things on top of that they could have saved a whole pile of money.”
The increase will be used to hire more police officers, covering the 2017 tax rebate and for the tax room that council voted to take for Green Line LRT funding. The CTF said everyone would agree that the Calgary Police Service could use more officers on the beat.
“But there could have could other ways that the police budget could have been trimmed,” said Craig.
The CTF said overall, salaries and benefits could have made the biggest mark. Craig said a three per cent cut in this area could have created savings of up to $170 million.
