Calgary council divided over 20 per cent boost to individual ward budgets

Calgary council is divided over a proposal to increase each councillor's ward budget by 20 per cent to address staffing pressures, inflation, and population growth.

The current ward budget stands at $373,697 per councillor, for a total of $5.2 million across all wards—a figure set after the previous council approved a funding increase in 2023. A city survey found that 70 per cent of responding councillors feel the current budget does not meet their needs, and 80 per cent indicated the budget should be increased.

Ward 9 Councillor Harrison Clark supports the raise. "I've got 17 very well-established neighbourhoods," Clark said. "The workload is becoming real. Based on what community has asked of us, the expectations that they have of this office, access to more funds to better deliver those results would be immensely helpful."

Mayor Jeromy Farkas is more cautious. He says a 20 per cent increase is too high without "a demonstrated value for return on money." He acknowledged the struggles councillors face—reporting to 100,000-plus constituents—but said representation quality diminishes regardless of how good an elected official is. "I would be reluctant to support that big of an increase unless there was a big increase to the quality of representation," he said. Farkas suggested he might support an even larger increase if each ward had its own office, mirroring how MLAs and MPs operate.

Ward 14 Councillor Landon Johnston echoed that comparison. He said he feels pressure every day and could use "extra hands" to handle constituent concerns and draft notices of motion. The ward-funding proposal is on council's agenda Tuesday.