Quote:
Originally Posted by Bunk
Property taxes relate most closely to operating costs. Property taxes cover only a small portion of capital projects.
The big shift if we were aiming for true cost recovery of new growth would relate to the acreage assessments (development levies). The City recently doubled the acreage assessment from about $7500 a door to about $15,000 a door. This moved us from covering about 25% of the capital cost to service a new home to about 50%. The Mayor believes this did not go far enough and that we should work toward full cost recovery. If we moved to full cost recovery, the acreage assessment will move to about $30,000 a door, which would have an impact on the purchase price of the home. Each agreement is 5 years, so I imagine it will continue to move closer to that full cost recovery number eventually.
It's an inherently unsustainable situation when each new home is actually a net cost to the City, rather than a net contributer - at least on the capital side. There's been less work done (although it's ongoing) on the relationship between new growth and operating costs.
Of course, redevelopment comes with some cost, although not as much as growth on the fringe - and at some point there's likely to be a new redevelopment levy to help cover some of those costs. Of course, you don't want to be punitive with that and discourage redevelopment, which on balance costs the City much less.
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Sorry, I have nothing to add, I just love how you capitalize the "C" in "City" every-time you type it. I have terrible grammar, and that might be correct, but it just makes me feel like Calgary is this religious lord we speak only with respect about. I like it.