January 2017 Newsletter

Hello Ward 14.

I hope you had a chance to spend some quality time with friends and family over the holiday season. 2017 will bring new opportunities along with new challenges, as the future tends to do. First, though, I would like to speak about cleaning up after last year.

Christmas Tree Recycling

This is a VERY important update. Like many, City landfills have seen a significant drop in revenue because of the economic situation that we find ourselves in. Calgary’s Waste & Recycling Services has had to adapt by implementing with cost-cutting measures to bring its budget back in line.

For one thing, landfills will move to four-day per week operations (and I am happy to announce that Council has frozen the tipping fee rate for 2017). Off days will be staggered so that there is always a place to take waste. But the VERY important point is another cost-cutting measure. There will be no door-to-door Christmas tree collection this year. You will be able to drop off your tree at one of 15 designated locations between December 26 and January 31 instead. Not collecting trees door-to-door will save about $100,000.

For more information about the landfills you can visit calgary.ca/landfill, and for more information about the Christmas tree recycling you can visit calgary.ca/christmastree.

Customer Review Period – 2017 Property and Business Tax Assessments

This is another important tidbit, but it isn’t much different than previous years. Only the dates have changed. On January 5, the City will mail the 2017 property and business assessment notices. What you need to do is review it—carefully. Make sure your details are accurate and the assessed value is a fair reflection of the value of your property as of July 1, 2016. If you have any questions contact Assessment at 403-268-2888 during the Customer Review Period which runs from January 5 to March 6. The Customer Review Period is your only chance to make a case that your assessment is incorrect, so don’t take it for granted. It will have a big impact on the property tax bill you get in spring.

The City has some very helpful online tools to help you decide if you think your assessment is fair. I strongly suggest checking them out. They will be at calgary.ca/assessment, but you will also need a City myID account (calgary.ca/myid). You will find all the information you need to get started with all of it in the assessment notice you receive after January 5.

Counciltalk

As you may have read in my December column, the first Counciltalk of the year will be at the Lake Bonavista Community Centre in the multi-purpose room on Saturday, January 28 from noon to 2 p.m. I hope you can come!

If not, the rest of the schedule is now set and can be found at calgary.ca/counciltalk. You can sign up to receive important updates about things like Counciltalk at calgary.ca/ward14connect.

Let’s make this year a great one, Ward 14!

-Councillor Peter Demong​