A $52 M tax break from the province has caused a lot of controversy and on Wednesday council decided to give the cash back to Calgarians by offsetting property taxes.
The city has decided that the money will go back to taxpayers next year to help with increases in property taxes but after that, it will go into a long-term transit fund.
The money came from the education portion of property taxes which the province returned to municipalities.
The city has spent hours debating how to spend the money ever since and is looking into a crosstown rapid transit line from Harvest Hills Boulevard to the new South Calgary Hospital.
"The right decision is, we have an opportunity here where we can make some huge inroads into the southeast transit. Without this we wouldn't of been able to anything for years and years and when we’re looking at the greenline which goes all the way from the south to the extreme far north, this is the beginning to lay a solid foundation for what is to come in the future,” said Shane Keating, Ward 12 Councillor.
The transit fund would eventually pay for the north, central and southeast transit way and would also be used on other transit upgrades and projects.
