Calgary city council will take part in a special meeting behind closed doors to seek legal advice, after a trove of confidential and preliminary budget documents were obtained by Global News.
As first reported by Global News on Wednesday, the confidential documents showed a significant property tax increase would be required to cover all the spending requests in front of city council in the upcoming four-year budget.
The preliminary documents were presented to city council during a closed-door meeting July 28, in which city council directed administration to whittle down the requests and present an updated budget scenario later this month with a 15 per cent property tax increase in 2027.
Calgary mayor Jeromy Farkas said the figures are simply a “wishlist” and no decisions have been made regarding a property tax increase.
The release of the documents resulted a clash on Thursday between Farkas and Ward 14 Coun. Landon Johnston, after Johnston took to social media and claimed he leaked the information.
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The situation has prompted Farkas to call a special meeting of council.
It will take place after the long weekend on Tuesday morning, following the start of a busy Executive Committee meeting in which city councillors will need to endorse an option for the downtown leg of the Green Line LRT project.
A notice sent to city councillors said the meeting to is to receive “legal advice regarding unauthorized disclosure of 2027-2030 budget cycle information.”
Farkas’ office declined an interview with Global News on Friday morning.
Ward 3 Coun. Andrew Yule told reporters Wednesday he was disappointed the information was released, but isn’t confident there will be any repercussions, as the council code of conduct was eliminated by the provincial government last year and replaced with a provincewide one.
Calgary city council will deliberate the next four-year budget on Nov. 23 after the proposed spending plan is released publicly in early November.
More to come…
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