Majority of city council fails taxpayer report card

More than half of Calgary's city council has failed in a report card compiled by a coalition of business lobbyists.

The newly formed Coalition for Property Tax Fairness released its assessment Monday on how well the mayor and 14 councillorshave done in defending the interests of taxpayers through spending and fiscal management.

The group gave Ald. Ric McIver top marks, saying his actions most accurately reflected the needs of the business community, winning him an A+. Ald. Andre Chabot placed second with an A.

Mayor Dave Bronconnier received a D, while aldermen Druh Farrell and Linda Fox-Mellway both scored the lowest,each with anF.

Seven aldermen received a D+ or lower.

The report card was issued by a coalition of nine organizations,including the Calgary Chamber of Commerce, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, and the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA).

The group examined 32 issues dealt with by council in the past 18 months such as curbside recycling, election donation reform and new pedestrian bridges and awarded points based on how each council member voted.

For example, votes against raising business and property taxes earned each council member points.

"We selected the voting record based on how important they were to the member groups in this coalition," said Bill Partridge, executive vice-president of BOMA.

The coalition did notcountvoting records ontopics such as environmental, social or infrastructure spending, saying itcreated the report card to raise awareness of what it feels is an anti-business sentiment on city council.

"Our small business members are growing increasingly frustrated with the direction of this council. From excessive spending to increasing taxes and a lack of movement on the extra business tax, small business owners are looking for more," said Janine Halbesma, acting Alberta director of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.

Most ofthe points were based on voting records, while the rest were awardedbased on:

• Staying within office and travel budgets.
• Number of taxpayer and business-friendly motions.
• Proactively seeking feedback from stakeholders, and responding to letters and meeting requests.

"Hopefully this will be a wakeup call to the mayor and aldermen on the importance of defending the interests of small business owners and taxpayers for the remainder of their term," said Halbesma.

"I put very little value in it," said Farrell, who ranked last."It's always easy to vote against something but at the end of the day is that the best decision for Calgarians?"

Ald. Jim Stevenson, who received a B, said how the people in his ward feel is a more telling barometer.

"What really counts is the poll on election day. But I'm out there to fight for my constituents. The community's had to be brought back to the table andI believeI've done that," he said.

The next municipal election is in October 2010.