More details expected on how Calgary plans to pay its share of four major projects
More details are expected to emerge during Monday's city council meeting on how the city plans to pay its share of four major capital projects.
The project list includes the $500-million BMO Centre expansion, a new arena to replace the Saddledome, a multi-sport fieldhouse at Foothills Athletic Park and a $412-million plan to expand Arts Commons.
Funding from other levels of government, the private sector and others sources would also likely be needed.
Coun. Jeromy Farkas is one of the four council members who voted against the plan to fund the four projects.
He says it's not accurate to say all of the spending can be done without raising property taxes.
He says the plan includes taking interest earned from its reserve accounts and directing the money towards the major projects.
"The city draws upon about $30 million a year in interest revenue so this is money that's applied directly to the mill rate. So abolishing these accounts has what I've calculated to be a two-per cent property tax increase right off the top. So if we no longer have these accounts paying down the mill rate, then it goes onto city taxpayers to fill that void," he said.
"Council is assembling a very large pot of money from a very large multitude of sources, so at a minimum, I think Calgarians deserve to know — given that it's their money, it's not city council's money — where that money is coming from, what the amounts are and what the trade-offs involved are."
Proponents of the projects say it could take 10 to 15 years to get them all built.
