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Calgary

More details expected on how Calgary plans to pay its share of four major projects

More details are expected to emerge during Monday's city council meeting on how the city plans to pay its share of four major capital projects.

Coun. Farkas says new arena, fieldhouse, upgrades to BMO and Arts Commons not possible without raising taxes

A rendering shows the proposed expansion to the BMO Centre in Calgary. (Calgary Stampede)

More details are expected to emerge during Monday's city council meeting on how the city plans to pay its share of four major capital projects.

The project list includes the $500-million BMO Centre expansion, a new arena to replace the Saddledome, a multi-sport fieldhouseat Foothills Athletic Park and a $412-million plan to expandArts Commons.

Funding from other levels of government, the private sector and others sources would also likely be needed.

This rendering of a proposed arena in Victoria Park shows how it would fit into the streetscape that the Calgary Municipal Land Corporation is planning on Olympic Way. This is the view from 14th Avenue S.E. (Rossetti/Calgary Flames)

Coun. Jeromy Farkas is one of the four council members who voted against the plan to fund the four projects.

He says it's not accurate to say all of the spending can be done without raising property taxes.

He says the plan includes taking interest earned from its reserve accounts and directing the money towards the major projects.

A conceptual drawing of a proposed interior for a revamped Arts Commons in downtown Calgary. (City of Calgary)

"The city draws upon about $30 million a year in interest revenue so this is money that's applied directly to the mill rate. So abolishing these accounts has what I've calculated to be a two-per cent property tax increase right off the top. So if we no longer have these accounts paying down the mill rate, then it goes onto city taxpayers to fill that void," he said.

"Council is assembling a very large pot of money from a very large multitude of sources, so at a minimum, I think Calgarians deserve to know given that it's their money, it's not city council's money where that money is coming from, what the amounts are and what the trade-offs involved are."

Proponents of the projects say it could take 10 to 15 years to get them all built.

In 2013, the city's community and protective services committee voted in favour of constructing a $200-million facility at Foothills Athletic Park at University Drive and 24th Avenue N.W., close to both McMahon Stadium and the University of Calgary, as well as the C-Train line. (Calgary Multisport Fieldhouse Society)