Calgary mayor voices concern over Alberta budget’s changes to local property taxes

Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas is criticizing the province for implementing expenses, while Alberta's finance minister says everyone has to chip in.

Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas is criticizing the province over property tax changes announced in the 2026 budget on Thursday.

The changes will see an increase to education property tax (EPT) rates to help fund school operating costs.

Effective in 2026, residential and farmland EPT rates will rise to $2.84 per $1,000 of equalized assessment, while non-residential rates will increase to $4.17 per $1,000.

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For the median Calgary home, this translates to an additional $340 per year.

The government says the increase is necessary to ensure EPT revenue covers one-third of education-related operating expenses, as outlined in the budget.

For Calgary homeowners and businesses, where property assessments are among the highest in Alberta, the changes are expected to result in noticeably higher contributions to education funding.

“The provincial government has just imposed the largest property tax increase on Calgarians in history,” Farkas complained in a Thursday social media post.

Farkas said the province is increasing its share of Calgarians’ property tax bill by 21.05 per cent.

“Nearly 42 per cent of every residential property tax dollar now goes directly to the province,” he said. “And the city is legally required to collect this massive tax increase.”

Farkas said for a typical $706,000 home, the province will collect an additional $339 in property taxes, compared to an additional $49 from the city.

“We did our work to restrain spending while focusing on safety and core infrastructure. The city’s increase is 1.81 per cent,” Farkas said.

“The total increase is about $388, with the overwhelming majority driven by the province.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, Farkas said Calgarians recognize the city is the economic engine of the province.

“We’re willing to do our fair share and even more,” he said. “But the provincial government needs to show their work. If they are going to put squarely on Calgarian families, Calgarian seniors, households, renters, Calgarians in our city – the largest property tax increase in our history – they need to show their work.

“They need to show the benefits. They need to show the value that Calgarians are receiving.”

CTV News has reached out to the province for its response to Farkas’s concerns and will be updating this article when one is received.

‘We all have to chip in’: Horner

Alberta Finance Minister Nate Horner was asked about the property tax changes during a fireside chat at a Calgary Chamber of Commerce event on Friday.

President and CEO Deborah Yedlin said it was a surprise to see the province’s education property tax portion be so significant, especially the increase in Calgary.

“Well, it shouldn’t have been, because I said I was going to do it last year,” Horner said.

“In Budget 2025, they said, ‘You’re doing this?’ And I said, ‘Yes, and I’m doing it again next year.’ I said we’re getting to 33 per cent, and we didn’t want to put it all onto folks in one year, so we staggered it over two years.

“We are going to spend billions and billions on schools. We all have to chip in.”

‘Problematic for the government’

Alberta’s new budget will carry a $9.4-billion deficit, the largest since the COVID-19 era.

It’s something political scientist Lori Williams says could prove problematic for the UCP.

“Affordability is top of mind for Albertans,” Williams said. “If their property taxes or rents are going up as a result of this – this is money they’ve got to come up with upfront, it’s not money taken off the top of their paycheque, this is money they’ve got to come up with to pay the property tax or the increased rent – and that’s going to hit them on the affordability front in a big way.”

“This is the third time the UCP government has increased property taxes – saying it’s cutting taxes, but actually increasing property taxes,” Williams said. “That’s not going to sit well with folks that have to come up with that money.”

“If you combine that with that priority concern of affordability – and whether health care is getting better, whether education is getting better – if those issues that are priorities for Albertans are not being addressed to their satisfaction, then that becomes much more problematic for the government.”

With files from The Canadian Press and Mark Villani, CTV News