Coun. Andre Chabot and Coun. Ward Sutherland want the city to look at temporarily suspending the limit, which caps debt payments at 28 per cent of gross revenue.
[...]
Coun. Druh Farrell said she is “strongly opposed” to loosening the city’s borrowing rules.
Edit: Motion was voted down in council. Only Chabot, Stevenson and Sutherland voted in favour.
Is it opposite day today? Druh the left liberal saying don't borrow and spend anymore, with Chabot and Sutherland the "conservative" right saying lets spend spend spend?
Won't this make Sun reader's heads explode? "Damn that Druh she's always wanting more more mo....uhhh wha?"
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Is it opposite day today? Druh the left liberal saying don't borrow and spend anymore, with Chabot and Sutherland the "conservative" right saying lets spend spend spend?
Won't this make Sun reader's heads explode? "Damn that Druh she's always wanting more more mo....uhhh wha?"
We need to take on this debt to pay for Nenshi's Peace Bridge.
Councils don't automatically spend to the limit. My city's debt is about 20 per cent of our limit. There is a government-mandated limit that cannot be exceeded without provincial approval and every city has it's own internal limit that's usually much lower and us changeable by council or can be temporarily exceeded.
Is it opposite day today? Druh the left liberal saying don't borrow and spend anymore, with Chabot and Sutherland the "conservative" right saying lets spend spend spend?
Won't this make Sun reader's heads explode? "Damn that Druh she's always wanting more more mo....uhhh wha?"
History tells us that "liberals" are often better actual stewards of finances than self proclaimed "conservatives". Conservatives try to claim a monopoly on "fiscal responsibility" and chest pound a lot, usually about little expenditures, while spending wildly on the big things and messing up revenue with ill-advised changes to taxation.
I'm reminded of this US political cartoon.
Jean Chretien vs. Stephen Harper being a recent Canadian example.
__________________
Trust the snake.
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Councils don't automatically spend to the limit. My city's debt is about 20 per cent of our limit. There is a government-mandated limit that cannot be exceeded without provincial approval and every city has it's own internal limit that's usually much lower and us changeable by council or can be temporarily exceeded.
There's a provincially-mandated limit, but also a Council self-imposed limit below that. Calgary is very close to the self-imposed limit because of bullet financing of West LRT (while promised provincial payments have been behind promised schedules) and large debt accrued with water and wastewater infrastructure (partially due to inadequate developer levies between 2000-2010).
Actually, that one sun commenter was right. Toronto is foo foo land. I see people walking around with shih tzus all the time. Careful, Calgary! Take a closer look at the path Nenshi is taking you down with his expensive pet projects like transit improvement, community planning and beautification, and that goddam fancy bridge! You will wake up one day living next to a group of homosexuals renovating and landscaping your own neighborhoods.
What is the city's debt ceiling tied to right now? Is it an arbitrary number that has been in place for X amount of years or is it something that changes with city size/population?
Obviously one of the things that I think is important is that if the city is looking to increase debt to keep up with infrastructure improvement needs as the city continues to boom, I think it can be a prudent idea. However, if it's being increased just because they think they should increase it, it's probably a poor idea. Just willy-nilly increasing the debt ceiling might be better done as increasing the debt ceiling for a specific purpose. In example, they could increase the debt ceiling specifically to address transportation infrastructure, or civic capital projects, etc.. I'd be wary that just increasing the pot without any restriction might enable councillors to spend without thinking or looking for alternatives. There's a saying that if you want to come up with creative solutions, remove one zero from the budget from whatever you're trying to do.
What is the city's debt ceiling tied to right now? Is it an arbitrary number that has been in place for X amount of years or is it something that changes with city size/population?
Perhaps you should read the article...
Spoiler!
It's a percentage of gross revenue, so it increases as the city's tax base grows.
The provincially mandated limit is 1.5 times revenue and debt servicing of .25 times revenue. Provincial capital grants are excluded.
Municipalities have their own internal limits. I don't know Calgary's. In my muni ours is a conservative 20 per cent of the provincial limit. We are able to temporarily exceed our internal limit without consequences and have done that for short periods of time.
City councillors proposing to increase Calgary's debt limit
