Draft city budget proposes taking on more than $6B in new debt

Calgary's four-year budget proposes taking on billions of dollars in new debt as the city looks to catch up on infrastructure. The city's total outstanding debt is about $3.8 billion. The proposed budget would drive it up to more than $10 billion by 2030. That would take the city's debt from 43% to 80% of the council-approved limit. We're seeing higher debt levels than we ever have before, and so we're very attentively monitoring that. The city says more borrowing is needed to finance major projects like new water infrastructure and the Green Line. Yes, we need to invest in catching up on these rec centres. We need to make sure that roofs aren't falling in and police stations. But we need to spread out the payback and pay period of those investments which means that we're not asking Calgarians to pay for all of it up front. A lot of the debt would be paid for through utility fees and levies. But more debt would impact property taxes. The city says servicing the new debt would eat up 1.1% of tax revenue in 2028, 2.2% in 2029 and 1.9% in 2030. It is something that I'm concerned about as far as how far we're pushing the envelope. Chabot wants the province to extend the maximum loan period for municipalities to spread out the cost for Calgarians. Some of our infrastructure is projected to last beyond 50 years. Why would you have to pay down your mortgage in 25 years if you know that the asset's going to last well beyond that? The province hasn't said whether it's open to making that change. Council will start debating the budget, including how much debt to take on, later this month. Brendan Coulter, CBC News, Calgary.