Mayor Nenishi may have cruised to re-election by a wide margin, but the council that he has to work with has seen a subtle shift in balance that has the potential to leave taxpayers’ pockets left a little less emptied than they have been over the last three years.

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) conducted a short survey of candidates two weeks before Election Day, and the answers are telling in where our new council is headed. Twelve of the fifteen members of the new city council (including the mayor) completed the survey.

The razor-thin victory of Ward Sutherland in Ward One saw a handing of the torch from Dale Hodges. Sutherland scored a five out of five in the CTF’s survey and even went so far as to sign a written pledge to not raise taxes beyond the rate of inflation.

Ward Two saw Joe Magliocca (also scoring five out of five) pick-up the seat from the retiring Gord Lowe who was rated the third least “taxpayer-friendly” councillor by a report by the Manning Foundation. Both Magliocca and Sutherland have the potential to upset the balance of council, in a positive direction.

Overall, seven of 15 on the new council committed to limit property tax increases to the rate of inflation. At one vote short of a majority, this group of seven has it within their ability to negotiate with the less committal councillors to prevent another term of massive tax hikes. Doing so will require a degree of cooperation and solidary among these councillors however, which is difficult to maintain in civic politics.

When it comes to returning the provincial “tax room” back to taxpayers, the breakdown is similar. The exception to this is that Richard Pootmans was unclear and ambiguous in his answer, leaving the “keep the money” crowd tied with the “give it back” crowd at seven votes each. Pootmans would appear to be the swing vote on which the next $52 million will hang. Taxpayers in Ward Six, might need to get on the phone.

On getting the city’s spending under control however, taxpayers have more of a reason to smile. Eleven of fifteen councillors committed (albeit to varying degrees) to limit raises for city government employees to the rate of inflation. Since this group includes Mayor Nenshi himself, there is good reason to believe that we can expect progress on this front.

The CTF also asked candidates where they stood on using tax-dollars for a new professional NHL arena, as has been done to the beleaguered taxpayers of Edmonton. On this front, ten of 15 members of council were clearly opposed. Although Mayor Nenshi would not give a straight answer on this question, he would seem to face significant opposition to the idea on council. So long as their resolve is maintained, Calgarians shouldn’t have to worry about handing their tax dollars to billionaires, Daryl Katz style.

Time will tell what groups or coalitions will form within council itself, but based on what we know of the re-elected incumbents and the fresh faces on council, taxpayers should have moderate optimism that they will be treated a bit better than they were over the last three years.