MF YYC Politics - there, I mega did it

[Wormius]

Is it worth it to try to get your property assessment re-evaluated? Like if you knock off $50k or a $100k on a $750k property, are you going to save much in property taxes?

Edit: NM. Found the tax calculator at http://www.calgary.ca/property-owner...alculator.html

[TorqueDog]

It's about ~$3xx per year for every $50k you save on your assessed value.

My TIPP January - June 2026 payments just went down, yet my assessed value increased $78,000... so that slight drop I get to enjoy for six months is going to get reverted to more than it was at the end of 2025 come July 2026.

I was hunting around for comparable properties on Realtor.ca in downtown only to discover there really aren't that many. Might need to ask a realtor buddy to see if there's any argument for a lower assessment, otherwise I might just keep my mouth shut.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

It's about ~$3xx per year for every $50k you save on your assessed value.

My TIPP January - June 2026 payments just went down, yet my assessed value increased $78,000... so that slight drop I get to enjoy for six months is going to get reverted to more than it was at the end of 2025 come July 2026.

I was hunting around for comparable properties on Realtor.ca in downtown only to discover there really aren't that many. Might need to ask a realtor buddy to see if there's any argument for a lower assessment, otherwise I might just keep my mouth shut.

You can see all the comparables the city uses for your assessment on the map view. You have to zoom in until you see values, then click on any of the green dots. That opens the list(and the one you clicked will be highlighted). I find if I look for the ones in the past year or two I see the values make sense to my valuation.

[Torture]

Don't worry guys, we can pay for $5B in infrastructure without raising taxes says self described financially responsible city counsellor. We just need to get the Feds, Province, or private sector to foot the bill.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calga...gary-9.7059961

[woob]

Boy, Farkas is sure on Reddit a lot. Wondering if it is actually him, or one of his lackeys posing as him.

[Looch City]

Originally Posted by woob

Boy, Farkas is sure on Reddit a lot. Wondering if it is actually him, or one of his lackeys posing as him.

Someone should invite him to CP lol

[accord1999]

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

I was hunting around for comparable properties on Realtor.ca in downtown only to discover there really aren't that many. Might need to ask a realtor buddy to see if there's any argument for a lower assessment, otherwise I might just keep my mouth shut.

If you haven't used it before, try House Sigma. It will generally have a record of sold and expired listings that provides more useful information than the typical realtor site.

[The Fisher Account]

Originally Posted by woob

Boy, Farkas is sure on Reddit a lot. Wondering if it is actually him, or one of his lackeys posing as him.

Was definitely not a big fan of Farkas, but i'm glad to see him connecting with citizens on it.

Is he our first millennial Mayor? At least he's getting out there and being response (and even funny sometimes!)

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by The Fisher Account

Was definitely not a big fan of Farkas, but i'm glad to see him connecting with citizens on it.

Is he our first millennial Mayor? At least he's getting out there and being response (and even funny sometimes!)

By 'our', do you mean Calgary? Because that's a definite yes.

Although Nenshi was younger than Farkas (38 vs 39/40) when he first took office.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Torture

Don't worry guys, we can pay for $5B in infrastructure without raising taxes says self described financially responsible city counsellor. We just need to get the Feds, Province, or private sector to foot the bill.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calga...gary-9.7059961

We should all just move to Canmore.

Can we get a giant Oil Company to build an HQ there?

[Faust]

Future of Calgary Transit free fare zone once again up for debate

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calga...zone-9.7069709

[Faust]

Calgary city councillor wants more transparency on city employee salaries

https://globalnews.ca/video/11647797...oyee-salaries/

[calgaryrocks]

Originally Posted by Faust

Calgary city councillor wants more transparency on city employee salaries

https://globalnews.ca/video/11647797...oyee-salaries/

interesting, so what purpose does this serve? to help shame The City for having people make over that random threshold? I don't really see the benefit.
It's one thing for politician salaries to be public (that is part of being in public office and voted for), however the city employees are not voted on but hired for (presumably) proper skills and experience.....I worry we are just opening more people up to be targeted for crime?

[Wormius]

The purpose is rage farming.

[Jimmy Stang]

Originally Posted by Faust

Future of Calgary Transit free fare zone once again up for debate

I find myself agreeing with Farkas again. I think that eliminating it would be a mistake and would not see the revenue bump they think. Nobody is going to pay $4 to go a few blocks, and then $4 more back. It would also make the platforms more desolate, downtown businesses would not benefit, etc.

One of those "they know the cost of everything, but the value of nothing."

And including the Stampede grounds? Honestly it would be a great idea, especially if we are positioning ourselves as a convention hub. Get these people moving between the convention centre, their hotels, restaurants, etc. without friction will just make it easier for them to spend money at businesses in the city.

Mayor Jeromy Farkas says there could still be opportunities to find other sponsors to offset some of the costs. He is a fan of the free fare zone, and says he thinks it could even be expanded, say during the Calgary Stampede to include stations that service the grounds.

"In this case I don't think the juice is worth the squeeze. I think we'd lose a lot more by getting rid of the free fare zone than we'd anticipate to gain by charging people," Farkas said.

[topfiverecords]

Originally Posted by Faust

Calgary city councillor wants more transparency on city employee salaries

https://globalnews.ca/video/11647797...oyee-salaries/

It's time for all these newly elected people with zero experience in this field to spew all their dumb random thoughts they've had into motions.

[Burninator]

Originally Posted by Faust

Calgary city councillor wants more transparency on city employee salaries

https://globalnews.ca/video/11647797...oyee-salaries/

Zero chance this passes. Another garbage proposal by useless Landon.

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by Wormius

The purpose is rage farming.

I don't get the philosophy to be pissed at the Parks & Rec director making $150k, but totally convinced that the CEO of your own company is making 100x what you are.

In my opinion the bigger issue is that it's impossible to get fired at the city, and an even bigger problem an any unionized role in any sector. If we're paying good money, we should be able to attract and retain good people - which is a positive for everyone. Protecting under performers is the bigger rot from my perspective. This isn't unique to the City, but harder to achieve as there is no competition. Companies that do this will fail, but a City can't (and shouldn't). It's a hard problem to solve.

[Wolven]

Originally Posted by Bill Bumface

I don't get the philosophy to be pissed at the Parks & Rec director making $150k, but totally convinced that the CEO of your own company is making 100x what you are.

In my opinion the bigger issue is that it's impossible to get fired at the city, and an even bigger problem an any unionized role in any sector. If we're paying good money, we should be able to attract and retain good people - which is a positive for everyone. Protecting under performers is the bigger rot from my perspective. This isn't unique to the City, but harder to achieve as there is no competition. Companies that do this will fail, but a City can't (and shouldn't). It's a hard problem to solve.

Culture war vs. Class war.

They want you looking at public employee salaries (other workers in the working class) and be angry about how much they make instead of looking at the CEOs (and the owning class) as they vacuum up all of the wealth.

Public sector jobs should be in higher demand than private. Like you said, a city cannot fail, therefore that is the justification for higher salaries and make their jobs attract the best possible talent.

Then, through that, they should be able to address other issues like "protecting under performers". A strong and healthy HR and management team should be able to identify under performers (especially in the management team) and either help them become successful, maybe transition them to another role in which they can perform better, or transition them out.

I've never understood the mentality of having public sector jobs getting paid less than their peers in the private sector.

Now if we wanted to expose everyone's earnings across the province... that would be insightful.

[TorqueDog]

Another transit-related motion, sponsored by Coun. Mike Jamieson, will also be up for review Tuesday. It suggests extending the window for transfers on transit from the current 90 minutes to two hours.

Farkas says he thinks that idea is a "no brainer," given how much the city has grown and how long some commutes can take.

Considering Jamieson is a Chandler-backed councillor, I'm surprised he proposed something constructive and designed to make transit more accessible. Very off-brand.