[Blahgzilla]

October 16
Committee Okays Big Jumps To Water and Garbage Fees
CHQR Newsroom
10/16/2008


Calgary residents will have to dig a little deeper into their wallets to pay for new fee increases from the city.
Garbage pick up fees are jumping by $4 a month starting in 2009, and that's just the tip of the iceberg.
The average Calgary family that uses a water meter is looking at a $20 per month spike by the year 2011, and sewer and storm drain rates will rise by 15 and 25 per cent respectively.
Alderman Brian Pincott says he's especially disappointed with the garbage service increase, and he wants to see the whole system changed.
"We need to re-jig the entire model of how we do it and how we pay for it."
The city's Utilities and Environment Committee heard that the current model of funding the waste system is not sustainable.
Calgary residents will also have to pay $8 a month for curbside recycling, starting in 2009.
Council still must approve the fee hikes recommended by the committee.


I've lived in Calgary for most of my life, save for a couple years back in the 90's when I went to B.C. for an adventure. It seems like I'm one of the very few people in this city now that was actually born here. I can remember a time when the population was under 500,000, let alone a million, and we considerd ourselves lucky for our efficient transportation infrastructure. This city has seen a boom that hadn't been forseen, and that it is ill-prepared for. It will be sometime before the city can start catching up with its requirements, so for a time there will be traffic jams and plenty of 'em. Rents have shot up, and probably wont decrease despite a sharp increase in the vacancy rate. Crime is on the rise, or at least that's the way it seems, no matter what the statistics may say. It's turned into the OK Corral on our streets, as gangs shoot at each other, sometimes missing, sometimes hitting. Sometimes the innocent are hit, becoming the tragic victims of a spree of murder and mayhem that seems to be endless.



The city fathers have gone hat in hand to the other levels of gov't, seeking help in dealing with the growth issues we are facing. Essentially, one level of government getting your tax dollars from another level of government. On top of it, while the amount of money we give to the feds and the province has decreased or stayed fairly stable, the amount of money Calgarians pay the city every year in taxes, levys, and fees has increased.



Now one might assume that since we live in the cradle of conservatism (and Conservatism), that our local government would reflect the make-up of the provincial and federal government and be predominantly conservative. You would be wrong. Calgarians have chosen some pretty liberal (and Liberal) mayors and alderman in their time, and the current version is a good example. Along with mayor Dave Bronconnier, a former federal Liberal candidate in Calgary, the other members of the "Pinko" faction of council include aldermen Druh Farrell, Joe Ceci and former MLA Bob Hawkesworth, who also sat in the Legislature under the ND banner. As can be expected, much of their agenda is to stick it to Calgarians where it hurts the most, the wallet. Increasing existing fees has long been a favourite of councils, but these guys like inventing new fees (taxes) for us to HAVE to pay. Like when they came up with cat licensing. Recently they've come up with the idea of charging a fee every time you have a fire in a backyard fire-pit. People have complained about the smoke, especially those with health issues. Fine, if it is really such a big deal, ban it them. Don't charge a fee, all you're doing is screwing us over some more because you can.

Now, a committee report presented to council is calling for a nearly 30% rate increase for water and garbage services. The city claims it needs the increase to offset rising costs to run the utilities. What about the average families' costs? Think everyone else's costs haven't risen? Perhaps a city that places a priority on creating more rink space in the midst of financial uncertainty, ought to reconsider what its priorities are. Just like a family, businesses AND goverments ought to learn to live within their means. The only differences between people, or businesses for that matter, and governments is, the ability to raise capital. Governments have the incredible ability to spontaneously create capital through taxation. They can keep on spending as much as they want, all they'll do is take more of your money to cover their debt. Thank God for alderman Ric "Dr.No" McIver. He is the lone voice of reason on the kangaroo council.


Wake up, Calgarians!! Say you've had enough of this crap. Enough of the leftist cabal at city hall. Enough of being unable to get by with less money thanks to the City of Calgary. We talk a good talk when it comes to a tax revolt, but turn quadraplegic when it comes to actually doing anything, so no walking the walk. Maybe Calgarians are merely content to roll over and let Bronco and his comrades pinch our pockets. I'd be willing to bet that most of the sheep that reside here now weren't born here. I think born and bred Calgarians wouldn't put up with this crapola.

So, if anyone is thinking of moving to Calgary any time soon, think about it REAL hard. I know I've been. A smaller, quieter place sounds pretty good to tell the truth. This isn't the land of milk and honey you've been promised.

[llama66]

Ric McIver is the worst kind of NIMBY, The City Council has to spend money to catch up, as you pointed out Calgary has gone from about 985,000 to about 1.1 million, we need to spend money on infrastructure and how do we raise the money? Taxes and levies, Calgary Transit is beginning to be more efficient, when I moved here it was not. Calgary is emerging as a major Canadian City. We need projects like the WLRT, 16 Ave N upgrade.

[Brenda]

Geeeesh, you don't have to yell!

Calgary is a big city, with big city problems. You are not gonna stop that by saying no...
But hey, what do I know, there is a reason why I hate big cities

[mtbr]

you summed up the number 1 problem in Calgary..

"Now one might assume that since we live in the cradle of conservatism (and Conservatism), that our local government would reflect the make-up of the provincial and federal government and be predominantly conservative. You would be wrong. Calgarians have chosen some pretty liberal (and Liberal) mayors and alderman in their time, and the current version is a good example. Along with mayor Dave Bronconnier, a former federal Liberal candidate in Calgary, the other members of the "Pinko" faction of council include aldermen Druh Farrell, Joe Ceci and former MLA Bob Hawkesworth, who also sat in the Legislature under the ND banner. As can be expected, much of their agenda is to stick it to Calgarians where it hurts the most, the wallet. Increasing existing fees has long been a favourite of councils, but these guys like inventing new fees (taxes) for us to HAVE to pay. Like when they came up with cat licensing. Recently they've come up with the idea of charging a fee every time you have a fire in a backyard fire-pit. People have complained about the smoke, especially those with health issues. Fine, if it is really such a big deal, ban it them. Don't charge a fee, all you're doing is screwing us over some more because you can.'

Life time career Liberal alderman need to be given the boot!
having said that, there is no other city in Canada that i would rather live in right now. Calgary will weather the present world economic storm better than any other city. Maybe just maybe Calgarians will vote in the next civic election and throw some more of these useless Liberal assholes out on the street..

BTW I was born here.

[kenmore]

I read in the paper that Alberta esp Calgary was starting to feel the effects of the downward ecomony.. oh my ... thought the oil rich province would have been immuned....
if you make 15$ an hr at timmys you shouldn't mind a $4 a month jump in garbage fees...
esp now that you dont have to worry about a carbon tax and you can keep on polluting the environment.. is the big boom going bust ?

[mtbr]

kenmore wrote:

I read in the paper that Alberta esp Calgary was starting to feel the effects of the downward ecomony.. oh my ... thought the oil rich province would have been immuned....
if you make 15$ an hr at timmys you shouldn't mind a $4 a month jump in garbage fees...
esp now that you dont have to worry about a carbon tax and you can keep on polluting the environment.. is the big boom going bust ?

yeah we're starting to feel the effects...every 5th business is no longer looking for new employees


BTW if we want any shit from you we'll squeeze your head.

[sandorski]

Big City, Big City issues. There's a reason for all those Fees, especially when the City is Booming in size. There's also a reason why Big Cities are much more liberal, it is necessary to change to meet the needs of the City.

You may not like it, but you might as well get used to it if you want to continue living there.

[dino_bobba_renno]

sandorski wrote:

Big City, Big City issues. There's a reason for all those Fees, especially when the City is Booming in size. There's also a reason why Big Cities are much more liberal, it is necessary to change to meet the needs of the City.

You may not like it, but you might as well get used to it if you want to continue living there.

Actually there really is no reason for all those fees. First off lets take a look at recycling. I've had recycling coming to my house for over 4 years now. We pay $4 a month to a private company for the service so why does city council now need double that amount to institute their own program?

Secondly, the City of Calgary has been claiming that they need more money to build infrastructure in all the new communities that have popped up over the years. What they don't tell you is that it is up to the private developers to install and pay for the roads, sidewalks, gas, electric, cable, water, sewer, streetlights, .... pretty much everything. The price of these are built into the new home prices so the city's claim that they need all sorts of cash for roads and such is a bunch of BS. This also obscures the money the city makes off of the sale of the land in the first place and the added tax income from the new residents.

Thirdly, with the rampantly increasing properly values over the past 5 years there really is no reason to increase taxes. Just with the increase in property values alone the city is seeing close to triple the revenues they had just 6 years ago.

And what about the additional revenues from the province and fedral government?

Those are just few little tid bits. The problem in Calgary isn't a that we don't have enough revenue it's that we have a spending addicted council. People like Druh Ferral should be kicked in the head. Rather than doing what is best for city she has been running around for the last few years trying to create some type of legacy for herself by building 25 million dollar bridges where just ordinary ones will do.

[sandorski]

Do the Developers maintain all those Infrastructure improvements? Do all Developements really pay for all those Improvements or only some? Who pays for improvements to connecting Off/Onramps, Highway improvements, Water/Sewage Treatment Plant expansions and other Improvements outside the new Developements? Transit service expansion, School/Hospital/Fire/Police improvements, Parks/Recreation, and more increase in Cost as Cities expand.

It costs $$ to run a Big City.

[bootlegga]

Blaming your city council for the boom is rich. I mean really, how much input did they have in Klein dropping oil sands royalties to 1% (when most other places charge 20%)? Or the sudden increase in wordlwide use (and therefore shortages in supply)?

Frankly, if you want to blame anyone, blame the provincial PCs for boom, mainly becaise they opened the floodgates on investment a decade ago. That, coupled with a steady increases in oil prices meant it was inevitable. If we were charging say 10-15%, we still have investment, but it likely wouldn't be at such a frenetic pace.

As for a councillor building $25 million bridges, you should give her a medal (or send her up here). Our bridge for the LRT over the river reportedly cost $88 million (in the 90s), and an overpass over 23rd avenue in Edmonton is projected to cost $250 million, so it sounds like a deal to me.

[mtbr]

bootlegga wrote:

Blaming your city council for the boom is rich. I mean really, how much input did they have in Klein dropping oil sands royalties to 1% (when most other places charge 20%)? Or the sudden increase in wordlwide use (and therefore shortages in supply)?

Frankly, if you want to blame anyone, blame the provincial PCs for boom, mainly becaise they opened the floodgates on investment a decade ago. That, coupled with a steady increases in oil prices meant it was inevitable. If we were charging say 10-15%, we still have investment, but it likely wouldn't be at such a frenetic pace.

As for a councillor building $25 million bridges, you should give her a medal (or send her up here). Our bridge for the LRT over the river reportedly cost $88 million (in the 90s), and an overpass over 23rd avenue in Edmonton is projected to cost $250 million, so it sounds like a deal to me.

you should get informed...they are paying some french designer millions to design a pedestrian bridge ...nothing wrong with the designs we have now.

Calgary career alderman and Mayor need to be shown the door.

[dino_bobba_renno]

sandorski wrote:

Do the Developers maintain all those Infrastructure improvements? Do all Developements really pay for all those Improvements or only some? Who pays for improvements to connecting Off/Onramps, Highway improvements, Water/Sewage Treatment Plant expansions and other Improvements outside the new Developements? Transit service expansion, School/Hospital/Fire/Police improvements, Parks/Recreation, and more increase in Cost as Cities expand.

It costs $$ to run a Big City.

Actually the developers do maintain the area's until they are handed over. The entire idea is that the city gets a completely populated and developed area handed over to them so they aren't burdened with the extra added infrastructure costs. Once the areas are released it's an entirely functioning community and new tax base which actually costs less annually to maintain and service then the older area's.

As far bridges and overpasses, 50% or more of the cost is paid by the province. Hospitals? Again, provincial respectability. Transit, once again costs are shared by the province. Sure there are added costs but the additional tax base should more than cover it. There is no need for 22% tax increases if your financial house is in order.

How about the cities apparent lack of transparency in their budgeting process? When is the last time the city of Calgary conducted an audit?

What costs us money are inept councillors fiddling and bungling and putting forward there own "legacy" projects. Remember how much Ferrals last minute 10 m adjust to the fish creek over pass cost us? 3 billion. Coloured fish on the new Glenmore underpass, 3.5 million. Art for the new sewage treatment plant that no one will ever see, 1 million. The east village boondoggle, were still adding that one up. What about the $500 dollar printer bought for one alderman that retailed for $150 at staples? Hiring a poet to write 4 poems to describe Calgary, $170,000. Hiring a "world renown" architect to design and build 2 pedestrian bridges which every one who lives in the area admits will be under utilized? 25 million. What about the cost to remove all the grass from the medians by my house and replace it with wood chips only to later hire 4 hydro vac trucks for 2 months to suck it all back up and replant the grass? What about the light standards in Mount Royal that cost 10 times the amount of a normal street light?

Sure there are added costs to the growth we are encountering and I have no argument with that. What I do have a beef with is BS pet projects and clueless aldermen wasting our money and having no accountability. And most of the waste goes simply for these nitwits to make a name for themselves.

[sandorski]

Some of those certainly seem unnecessary, especially the Poem, but other things can be good investments for the longterm, like the walking Bridges. Art is also one of those Investments that can pay off, especially for the Tourism Industry.

Cities experience Tax Rate increases at times, it's just one of those things. As Cities grow, Employee numbers can increase in spurts, older Infrastructure needs replaced or upgraded, etc. It's just something that happens. Certainly need to keep an eye on it and if there's no open accounting, I'd be concerned for sure though.

[dino_bobba_renno]

sandorski wrote:

Art is also one of those Investments that can pay off, especially for the Tourism Industry.

How many people tour a sewage plant?

I agree 100% that art can be a boon to a local economy but my point is that the money should be spent wisely. Paying that much money for 2 bridges seems ridiculous to me when the art gallery in Euclaire which show cased extremely talented local artists was closed due to lack of funding. It also seems completely unnecessary when you take into account that there are numerous location where other bridges are desperately needed. Why blow the budget on 2 bridges when you can build 100 of them in ares were there are large amounts of accidents form pedestrians trying to cross busy intersections? I'm sorry but all the citizens of Calgary should benefit form the money being spent on those bridges, not just the Kensington hippies.

[mtbr]

Dino for Mayor!