It took more than 50 hours and about 200 recorded votes, but Calgary’s property-tax rate was finalized last night.

In an 11-4 vote, city council approved a three-year, 18.1 per cent property tax increase, down from an initially proposed 23.3 per cent.

The 2009 rate was cut from a proposed 9.6 per cent to 5.3 per cent, while 2010 will see another 6.1 per cent hike and 2011 will add another 6.7 per cent, bringing the overall increase to a “reasonably palatable” level, said mayor Dave Bronconnier.

“It responds to a majority of Calgarian’s needs,” said Bronconnier, adding the city was fortunate to be in the position it is as cities across the country have to slash jobs and carve spending drastically to stay afloat given the increasingly worsening economic picture.

By 2011, the average property owner will pay an additional $195.62.

“We whittled and whittled and whittled,” said Ald. John Mar. “Then we took out the axe.”
Actually, a good chunk of the property-tax rate cuts came from financial shuffling, as the city increased its Enmax dividends by $8 million and decreased its capital building Pay As You Go funding by $5 million and removing $15 million worth of EMS funding as the province will take over in April to facilitate lower levels of taxation.

The city also hacked $15 million in overtime budgets yesterday, which took about two per cent out of the increase, and aldermanic ward budgets were sliced by $140,000, in what was mostly a symbolic move initiated by Ald. Brian Pincott.