That with respect to Resolutions 1, a and b, 2, 3 and 5, contained in Councillor Gondek's revised Report C2019-1323, the following be adopted:
- Council enact the 4 recommendations (see below) of the Tax Shift Assessment Working Group (TSAWG), recognizing the collaborative efforts of private, public and elected representatives in identifying property tax and budget reform initiatives based on empirical evidence (in the form of the supplementary documents attached to the 2019 October 8 final report and recommendations to Priorities and Finance Committee from TSAW:
a. TSAWG recommends that Council make a values-based decision on the proportional share of operating budget responsibility between residential and non-residential property tax classes. This is to be informed by the scenarios provided.
b. TSAWG recommends that Council be provided with assessment values and number of properties in both residential and non-residential property tax assessment classes for November 2019 and future budget seasons to make informed decisions based on past actuals and projected assessment amounts.
2. Prior to budget setting in November 2019, Council explore the most equitable, appropriate and sustainable proportional share of operating budget between residential and non-residential tax assessment classes for 2020 (using the scenarios provided by the TSAWG) by adding this as an agenda item to the 2019 November 5 meeting of the Priorities and Finance Committee, with recommendations to be sent to the 2019 November 18 Combined Meeting of Council;
3. Council use Recommendation 1b to aid in understanding estimated revenue streams between residential and non-residential tax assessment classes, as well as examples of individual taxpayer circumstances (using the most readily available information in Administration’s annual assessment roll report), each November when the One Calgary budget is adjusted for the remaining years of 2021 and
5. As part of ensuring that the City of Calgary is evolving its approaches to taxation and budgeting, the Chief Financial Officer liaise with the appropriate counterpart at the Government of Alberta to understand the provincial portion of Calgarians’ property taxes before November 2019 budget setting in an effort to provide more certainty and predictability to residents and businesses.
Against: Councillor Colley-Urquhart