City council ponders chopping next year's tax hike to 3.2%

City council is looking for ways to lower the tax burden on Calgarians as people continue to feel the effects of the economic downturn.

Next year's projected property tax hike of 4.7 per cent could be whittled down to between 3.2 per cent and 3.7 per cent without any serious impact on city coffers, administrators told council on Monday.

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Getting the rate lower than that would mean either cutting services or a one-time reach into the city's savings accounts, council heard.

"This isn't new. We've been grinding away at this for a long time," said Mayor Naheed Nenshi.

"But there will come a point where there's no more grinding away, and there really is a real impact on service."

City manager Jeff Fielding says the city has a responsibility to ensure the impact of this economic downturn doesn't fall entirely on taxpayers.

Revenue drop

The city is now halfway through its current four-year budget cycle and many things have changed since the current spending plan was passed in late 2014.

Since the downturn began, city revenues have dropped by tens of millions of dollars.

Fielding also underscored with city council that there's a need to be diligent in upcoming contract negotiations with unions representing city workers.

Council is expected to give administrators direction next month on an acceptable tax rate that they will use to make changes to next year's spending plan.

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