Nenshi welcomes expanded powers for cities
Alberta’s big cities have officially gained new powers under the first phase of a city charter process that could yield new sources of funding for cash-strapped municipalities such as Calgary.
Finance Minister Joe Ceci joined Mayor Naheed Nenshi at city hall on Friday to announce new regulations that will allow Calgary to chart its own course when it comes to things like residential speed limits and climate change adaptation.
But even as Nenshi lauded the announcement as the “largest” legislative change for cities “since the province was created,” he acknowledged calls for stable, predictable funding for cities have yet to be answered.
“There’s a lot of work left to be done on money,” Nenshi said. “It is crucial that we get a revenuesharing arrangement, a new fiscal framework, in place with the provincial government.
“Calgary requires stable and predictable funding now and into the future, particularly as we take on mega projects like the Green Line.”
Cities such as Calgary have long called for a more predictable funding arrangement to replace the province’s Municipal Sustainability Initiative, which expires in 2021.
That could be a key part of the next phases of the city charter process, Ceci said Friday.
“I certainly remember the challenges as a city councillor around funding from the province and the unknowns were many in terms of what was coming next year and what was coming the year after that,” said Ceci, who served on city council for 15 years.
“Predictable funding is where we need to get to.”
But that predictable funding won’t come in the form of new tax powers, Ceci said. Instead, the province is aiming to create a new fiscal framework for city funding:
“It’s looking at provincial government revenues and sharing those with the two large cities in a way that is predictable for them and sustainable for the province of Alberta,” Ceci said.
Another potential revenue stream could be dedicated to funding transit projects, Ceci said.
Nenshi said dedicated transit funding is key, since expensive projects can leach money that might otherwise go toward things like infrastructure repairs.