That with respect to Report C2024-1097, the following amendments be adopted: That a new Recommendation be inserted, as follows, and that all Recommendations be renumbered accordingly if necessary: Provide one-time operating funding of $500,000 from the Fiscal Stability Reserve as a one-time allocation in each of 2025 and 2026 to City Planning and Policy to support Downtown Service Level Enhancement and an additional $500,000 in one-time operating funding in each of 2025 and 2026 from the Fiscal Stability Reserve, to continue enabling the provision of City service, support, and grant funding of community-based festivals, events, and public activations enjoyed by all Calgarians throughout the year and particularly in the greater downtown area and thus supporting our diversity, destination, and events strategies funded by Fiscal Stability Reserve.
Motion C2024-1097 bundles three council directions: 1) re-create a Finance and Budget Committee to do detailed reviews of operating budgets and oversee service planning each four-year term, 2) reverse the 2023 transit fare freeze so fare changes can resume and move $3,000,000 into the Primary Transit Network, and 3) ask the provincial government to waive Section 358.1 of the Municipal Government Act to avoid shifting tax burden between residential and non‑residential property classes.
These steps increase council oversight of how money and services are planned, could restart changes to transit fares while directing new funds to transit network improvements, and seek temporary provincial relief to prevent tax-class shifts while assessment values rebalance.