Latest news with #CalgaryCity
CBC
22-05-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Former Calgary councillor Joe Magliocca gets house arrest and curfew for expenses fraud
Former Calgary councillor Joe Magliocca, who was convicted of fraud for submitting 19 falsified expense claims to the city, has been handed a six-month conditional sentence order. For the first two months, Magliocca will be under house-arrest conditions. After that, he will be bound by a curfew. Before Justice Gord Wong delivered his decision Thursday afternoon, Magliocca apologized in court for submitting the false claims. "My biggest regret is I am no longer able to serve the citizens of Calgary," said the former councillor. "I hope that the court and the public will not judge me just for this incident." 'A drop in the ocean' Sentencing arguments took place earlier Thursday. Prosecutor Aaron Rankin proposed an 18- to 24-month conditional sentence order or three to six months in jail. A conditional sentence order is a sentence that an offender is allowed to serve at home, in the community, under conditions. Defence lawyer Peter Sankoff asked the judge to consider a six-month conditional sentence order. "In terms of the ocean of misconduct by politicians, this is a drop in that ocean," said Sankoff. "Any period of incarceration would be disproportionate." While Sankoff said he wasn't trying to argue the City of Calgary is better off after the Magliocca expense scandal, he did point out the city has "a much more robust expense process and governance structure." 'Premeditated dishonesty' The defence lawyer also pointed out that Magliocca paid all of his expense claim discrepancies and lost his seat in the 2021 municipal election that took place 10 days after he was charged. "Mr. Magliocca paid. He paid the way officials pay, just like the Liberals got kicked out of office after the sponsorship scandal. Mr. Magliocca was kicked out of office, he lost his elected position," said Sankoff. Rankin said he likely wouldn't have proposed a jail sentence "if it were not for the evidence for the degree of premeditated dishonesty." During the trial, the judge heard that Magliocca obtained business cards from political attendees of conferences and then added their names to his expense claims. "There's a high degree of trust involved in that system, which was not honoured in this case," said Rankin. Parade of politicians testified As part of his sentencing submissions, Sankoff submitted 10 letters of support for his client, including from the mayor of Airdrie and former Alberta justice minister Jonathan Denis. In January, Justice Wong convicted Magliocca of fraud under $5,000 but acquitted him on a charge of breach of trust. During the trial, Wong heard evidence that between 2017 and 2019, Magliocca attended several meetings as part of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) conferences for which he was the City of Calgary's representative. Prosecutor Rankin called about two dozen current and former politicians to testify, including former Halifax mayor Mike Savage, Ontario Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie, Quebec cabinet minister Jonatan Julien and former Edmonton Mayor Don Iveson. 'Personal holiday' expensed Wong found that Magliocca added the names of various politicians from across Canada, most of whom Magliocca met at conferences, to receipts so he could claim he had dined with them. This allowed Magliocca to be reimbursed for the cost of meals and alcohol that otherwise wouldn't have been covered by the city. Wong ruled Magliocca's actions were "not simply a mistake or error" and said the former Ward 2 councillor "knowingly provided false information in expense claims and knew he stood to benefit." On top of the hosting frauds, Wong also found Magliocca falsified a receipt related to a hotel bill for a "personal holiday he expensed to the city." An audit and subsequent police investigation were triggered after reporting in 2020 by the Calgary Herald showed Magliocca expensed about double what other councillors claimed for their trips to the FCM conference in Quebec City.
CTV News
08-05-2025
- Business
- CTV News
Downtown development enhanced through new program
Downtown development enhanced through new program A new incentive program from the City of Calgary aims to boost downtown development.
CBC
08-05-2025
- Business
- CBC
Calgary sees surge in calls over property assessments, modest rise in actual complaints
If you had a case of sticker shock when you opened up your property assessment this year, you're far from alone. The City of Calgary received an eye-popping number of calls from citizens in 2025 who wanted to review the city's estimate of their property value, which affects how much property tax they'll owe. (But not always how people might think — more on that in a moment.) At first glance, the number seems huge: 10,762 calls during the city's customer review period for annual assessments. That's more than double the 4,558 calls the city received during last year's review period. But, unlike last year, the majority of the calls in 2025 were resolved without escalating to a formal complaint being filed with the Assessment Review Board. Only 31 per cent of this year's calls led to formal complaints, compared to 61 per cent last year. A total of 3,378 complaints were filed this year, for both residential and non-residential properties, which represents 0.56 per cent of all properties in the city. That's also up from last year's mark of 0.48 per cent, but it's not as dramatic of an increase as the sheer number of calls. Average residential assessment up 15% Acting director of assessment Daniel Lidgren said property values in Calgary rose significantly last year, and residential assessments across the city were up by 15 per cent on average, which likely came as a surprise to many people who weren't following the real estate market closely. He figures that might explain the surge in people calling about their assessments but then ultimately choosing not to file a formal complaint. "For a lot of people it may have been a sticker shock or a lack of awareness of the true change in the market," Lidgren said. "So I'm very hopeful that, for a large portion of the people that called in, we were able to show them and explain the sales that happened on that street or in their neighbourhood that defined the assessment, which basically satisfied them so they didn't need to proceed further." The 2025 assessments represent the estimated value of a property on July 1, 2024. There is a $50 fee for filing a complaint with the Assessment Review Board. How your assessment affects your tax bill Lidgren also noted a big assessment increase doesn't necessarily mean a correspondingly large increase in your tax bill, which can be a point of confusion for some people. What actually matters, he said, is how the change in your assessment compares to the change in the average assessment. The average assessment increase, remember, was 15 per cent. So if your assessment grew by less than that, your tax increase will be below average as well. If it grew by more than that, then your tax increase will be larger than average. If your assessment happened to be exactly average, Lidgren said you can expect a five per cent increase in your municipal tax bill and about a 15 per cent increase in your provincial tax bill. The provincial increase is larger because the Alberta government hiked its portion of Calgarians' property tax bills significantly in its most recent budget, and signalled an intention to do so again next year, in an effort to increase the share of education funding that comes from property taxes. A typical single-family home in Calgary is now assessed at $697,000. City taxes on a home like that will increase by about $11 per month in 2025, along with an $18 per month increase in provincial property taxes. As for the people who did go through with a formal complaint, we won't find out for a while yet how many were successful in getting their assessments lowered. Those files are still working their way through the Assessment Review Board process.
