Calgary 9-1-1 plan and budget
Calgary 9-1-1 connects Calgarians with the emergency services they require by evaluating and dispatching 9-1-1 and non-emergency calls from within Calgary and for client agencies located outside of the city. We coordinate with our partners to deliver accurate and timely information to first responders.
Our customers
- Calgarians and visitors calling 9-1-1
- Calgarians and visitors with non-emergency requests
- First-responder agencies (Police, Fire and EMS)
- Secondary response agencies (Bylaw Education & Compliance, Public Transit, regional partners, rural fire departments)
Our partners
- Alberta Health Services
- Regional partners
- Rural fire departments
- The Royal Canadian Mounted Police
- 2-1-1 Distress Centre
- Other internal business units
Value to Calgarians
- access to reliable 9-1-1 services
- offer support in 200 different languages
- efficient dispatch to emergency events that require multi-agency responses
- provide contracted service to regional partners and rural fire departments
What we deliver
- Prompt response to 9-1-1 calls.
- Meet call dispatch time targets.
- Prioritize communication of accurate and timely information to first responders.
- Strategic coordination with partnering agencies to respond to emergencies efficiently and effectively.
- Quality life-saving directions over the phone.
Budget breakdown
Operating and capital budgets explained
The City develops two budgets to create impact aligned with Council’s Strategic Direction:
- The four-year (2023-2026) operating plans and budgets
- The five-year (2023-2027+) capital plans and budgets
The operating budget includes revenues, recoveries and spending related to ongoing operations. These include:
- Salaries, wages and benefits.
- Day to day programs, maintenance and services.
- Administration costs (e.g., insurance).
- Fuel
- Utilities
- Capital financing costs.
The City's total net operating budget is zero. This means we budget to collect the revenue needed to deliver services to Calgarians — no more, no less. We collect this revenue through property taxes and other sources.
The capital budget pays for long-lived assets. These provide the foundation for the services Calgarians rely on. They include:
- Maintenance of current infrastructure (e.g., bridges, buildings and playgrounds).
- Upgrades to existing community infrastructure.
- New infrastructure to provide services in areas that are underserved (e.g., Green Line).
- New infrastructure for growing areas of the city.
Learn more about our 2023-2026 Service Plans and Budgets.
See how the budget has been adjusted since November 2022
Measuring performance
We are measuring our performance in five areas. Each value is the goal we expect to reach by 2026.
What we've heard
Calgary 9-1-1 strategic actions are informed by ongoing engagement with Calgarians and our partners. Calgarians identified responsiveness and reliability as key service values, followed by safety and quality. Public education and awareness of when to call 9-1-1 compared to other services was also considered important. The 2021 Fall Quality of Life and Citizen Satisfaction survey indicated:
- 100 per cent of Calgarians want more or the same investment in service.
- 100 per cent of Calgarians consider 9-1-1 services important.
- 94 per cent are satisfied with Calgary 9-1-1 services.
What we're watching
- Calgary’s population is growing and becoming more diverse, which will influence call volume and complexity.
- Calgary 9-1-1 will continue to evolve with emerging needs and will manage how resources are deployed.
- Our service must undertake multiple strategic projects to advance the critical technology and infrastructure that supports emergency response.
- Continuing to advance the Unified Computer Aided Dispatch project will support digital recording and storage system upgrades and offer interoperability with Fire and the Calgary Police Service.
- Enabling these service improvements will be dependent on staff resiliency and capacity to learn and adapt to new emergency communications processes and protocols.
- The provincial decision to transfer EMS dispatch services to Alberta Health Services in 2021 will require that we continue to seek collaborative solutions to mitigate the impact on service delivery and coordinate multi-agency response in the interest of public safety.
The future
What we plan to do
We will deliver reliable and resilient service through coordinated emergency response and improved interoperability. We will leverage technology and promote a healthy workplace to optimize service delivery and meet evolving citizen expectations.
How we're going to get there
- Improve emergency response coordination and reduce 9-1-1 processing times by unifying Police and Fire incident management systems.
- Enable ongoing adoption of the emerging capabilities of modern communication networks by deploying Next Generation 9-1-1 infrastructure.
- Meet emerging and evolving expectations of Calgarians through ongoing staff training and development on systems and service changes.
- Improve the caller experience by optimizing the Calgary 9-1-1 service delivery model and reducing call transfers.
- Ensure resilience and continuity of 9-1-1 operations through proactive risk-based planning and mitigation for emerging and evolving threats.