So there appears (from reading this thread) there are many Nenshi supporters on this forum and a lot of you guys n gals are early Nenshi supporters.
I think Nenshi is a very smart person, well spoken, with great (overall) policies. That said I won't vote for the guy based 2 of his Better Idea policies, namely Airport Tunnel and Secondary Suites.
His views on the airport tunnel are just not feasible and too late in the game. The runway and associated infrastructure is well past the design stage where the tunnel could be efficiently built into the runway design. My deep concern is that a Mayor Nenshi will engage CAA (Calgary Airport Authority) to get the Tunnel built. When CAA responds saying "Sorry but previous council turned down the Tunnel and runway planning and construction is too far along for the tunnel to be included. Turned down Nenshi will then start a fight with CAA to get the board elected by City officials rather than Chamber of Commerce. Great idea but the fight will take at least 2 years to get federal government to transfer land title (lease) to new city appointed authority. During this time of airport authority governance crisis all construction and planning will grind to halt. No new international terminal (badly needed for peak traffic periods) and no new runway (which is needed to support the traffic for the new terminal).
I will toss an open question to this forum of Nenshi supporters. How does Nenshi Better Idea vision get implemented while concurrently constructing the runway and terminal? Follow up question, if Mayor Nenshi becomes a reality, how does he implement Better Idea #4 without starting a fight with CAA and Federal Government?
Second issue with Nenshi is the Secondary Suites. Nenshi wants secondary suites to bring more affordable housing for Calgary. A great goal but in order for affordability to be attained two things not currently in the policy must happen.
1) Policy must not increase property taxes. If secondary suites are legal, then market value of the property increases as in relation to surrounding properties, therefore increasing property taxes for secondary suite home owner. If affordable housing is the goal Nenshi must include a policy statement that secondary suite home owners would receive a tax break, a controversial stance that would be opposed by most Calgarians since they would not receive preferential property tax breaks.
2) Legalizing secondary suites will result in large capital gain on sale of the home. The legal secondary suite homeowner would lose primary residence status on the home they must occupy under Better Idea #1. As a tax accountant I can conservatively estimate this would increase homeowner income taxes by $15,000 for each $100,000 increase in market value. Example, Buy home for $250,000, convert the home to include a secondary suite, sell couple years later for $350,000 result in a capital gain of $100,000. Capital gains include into income a 50% for a taxable capital gain of $50,000. Effective tax rate of 29% for Alberta (average tax rate, highest is 37% lowest 0 for those under basic exemption) yields an April tax bill of $14,500. City of Edmonton warns about loss of primary residence status at the following webpage
http://www.edmonton.ca/city_governme...-faq.aspx#9758
So question to the Nenshi Secondary Suite supporters, how does Better Idea #1 get implemented while maintaining affordability, balancing property tax "fair share" for all Calgarians, and not forcing secondary suite home owners into a crushing capital tax bill on sale of home?
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