Calgary city council boosts funding for transit and recreation, cuts climate spending

Calgary city council continues to wade through dozens of amendments to next year’s budget as Tuesday marked the seventh day of deliberations.

As of Tuesday evening, council had debated and voted on around 20 proposed changes to the spending plan with several more left to go.

“It’s been a little bit slower than previous budget debates but it’s actually landed on better results in terms of the investments that we’re making, but also the burden is being reduced on taxpayers,” Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas told reporters.

The budget proposed an overall property tax increase of 3.6 per cent, but as of Tuesday night that increase is now pegged at 1.38 per cent, after it got as low as 1.18 per cent during the debate.

According to Farkas, the property tax increase as it currently stands would cost the typical residential homeowner an additional $3.90 per month.

However, Calgarians are set to pay more on transit after city council voted in favour of increasing fares above and beyond what was budgeted.

An adult single ticket is set to rise 20 cents to $4 starting on Jan. 1, 2026, with a monthly pass pegged to jump $4 to $126 per month and a youth monthly pass scheduled to increase from $86 to $92 per month.

The move is expected to generate an additional $4 million in annual revenue for Calgary Transit.

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“I don’t think that we needed to increase transit fares in a time we have an affordability crisis,” said Ward 1 Coun. Kim Tyers, one of seven on council who voted against the fare increase.

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Calgary Transit did get a boost in funding due to an amendment from Ward 7 Coun. Myke Atkinson, which allocated an additional $1 million to fund the primary transit network and $6 million for the base network funded through property taxes.

The funding increase aligns with RouteAhead, transit’s strategy to expand service, which recommends annual boosts of $15 million to operations. The budget originally proposed a $14 million increase to improve frequency, but only on key transit routes.

Ward 4 Coun. DJ Kelly, who voted in favour of both the fare increase and funding boost, said both amendments were needed.

“The only way the increase in fares made any sense is if we were seeing improvement in transit service,” he told reporters.

“For me, that was the primary thing, getting more money into Calgary Transit in order to be able to up the quality of the service, the frequency and the reliability of our bus network.”

Council also greenlit the use of $9 million in reserves to fund a pilot project aimed at increasing security at 12 CTrain stations across the city, which was proposed by Ward 6 Coun. John Pantazopoulos.

During the morning session, councillors approved cutting $9 million in one-time operating funding from the city’s climate and environment department budget in a 9-6 vote. Councillors Schmidt, Kelly, Atkinson, Clark, Yule, and Mayor Farkas opposed.

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Coun. Tyers, who introduced the cuts, originally intended to cut $38 million from climate spending but noted her revised cuts won’t impact several programs like flood mitigation, habitat restoration or rain barrel rebates.

“It’s funding that was going towards education for Calgarians on small initiatives,” Tyers told reporters. “I think this is a big win for city council.”

Late Tuesday, city council approved more than $90 million in reserve funds for a number of recreation projects after dozens of speakers at the budget’s public hearing last week asked council to fund GamePLAN, the city’s recreation facility strategy.

The amendment, from Ward 5 Coun. Raj Dhaliwal, requested $65 million from reserves to help fund the Northeast Athletic Complex project, and an additional $28.7 million in reserve money to cover design and upgrades at several athletic parks and fields across the city.

Although the first parts of the amendment were approved unanimously, another $3 million from reserves was also approved to help fund the design work on the proposed YMCA facility in the West District with Coun. Tyers the sole opposition vote.

“Keep the politics out because this is about the future of our kids,” Dhaliwal said in his debate.

Other spending increases approved by council during Tuesday’s debate came from Ward 8 Coun. Nathaniel Schmidt, which included $150,000 in one-time funding from reserves to continue cleaning efforts on the street outside the Drop-In Centre, and $1 million in one-time funding from reserves for the washroom attendant program at Central Memorial Park and Century Gardens downtown.

Several attempts to cut the budget, including an amendment from Ward 11 Coun. Rob Ward that proposed a 2.4 per cent decrease to several internal city offices, were defeated.

City council will return to continue debate on Wednesday.