Budget season is upon us, and in the upcoming debates city council will have to face the challenges of greenhorn aldermen, a complicated bureaucratic structure and sprawling suburbs.

Following discussions held in June, council decided to increase taxes by five per cent and cut about $100 million from next year’s approximately $2.5 billion budget. While aldermen interviewed by Fast Forward Weekly believe most Calgarians won’t mind the tax hike, members will butt heads over how to trim the fat once budget debates begin on November 21.

Ward 9 Ald. Gian-Carlo Carra, one of the six new faces elected in 2010, says he is concerned about how the debates will play out. He considers them to be the defining factor in whether council will be able to productively work together over the next two years, and in the kind of city Calgarians get.

“We have to do things fundamentally differently and we have to achieve more with less,” Carra says. “I think that’s possible, but I don’t think it’s possible by just cutting back what we do. I think it’s possible only by changing what we do. And I think that there are some people on council that agree with me and there are some people that don’t.”

Those who don’t agree say “fundamental” changes aren’t necessary because city management is already top-notch.

“Calgary is well run,” argues Ward 7 Ald. Druh Farrell. “We have reliable city services to the point where you almost forget what it would be like without them. That doesn’t mean we can’t do better, that we can’t learn from other cities. But to say that it’s all got to go is so naive.”

Ward 11 Ald. Brian Pincott says the naiveté extends beyond claiming there’s something fundamentally flawed in municipal government structure.

“Talking about whether it works well or whether you completely throw out the bureaucracy is not a discussion that you have around budget,” Pincott explains.

“Council, for the last little while, has been miring itself in the minutiae as opposed to looking at the big picture.... Nitpicking one or two issues, deciding whether something should have 40 employees or 38 employees and whether this $100,000 is justified or not is not a very good use of council time.” Pincott believes the “nitpicking” occurs because the six new council members are still learning the ropes, and another four, including himself, have only been there since 2007.

“It certainly took me more than a year to learn,” he says.

Many agree that Calgary’s complexity only exacerbates the problem. The city’s vast suburbs challenge city administrators to spread adequate services and infrastructure over an unusually large area. Carra is convinced that harmonizing resources for outlying areas, where most Calgarians live an “automobile-centric” lifestyle, with those of the inner city is going to make budget agreements all the more difficult.

Ward 3 Ald. Jim Stevenson laments the fact that the complexity means he never has enough information to be sure he’s making the best decision.

“We’re presented with two four-inch binders and we’ve got basically a week and a half or two weeks to go through it,” Stevenson says. “Even if I was your best accountant or best auditor, I would not be able to comb through this kind of information in a matter of a couple of weeks and come up with any kind of an intelligent analysis of it.”

This year, aldermen will also have to consider the results of the largest public consultations ever carried out in Calgary. Nearly 25,000 Calgarians weighed in online and in person on how city hall should spend our money — sometimes in considerable detail.

Mayor Naheed Nenshi is trying to allay the fears of council over the looming debates. He doesn’t think any aldermen are so inexperienced that they can’t make solid decisions, especially since council has held “endless” strategic meetings over the course of the year with the deliberate intention of being prepared for the budget.

Nenshi admits past financial documents issued by the city were so confusing that he couldn’t understand them, but says this year aldermen will receive them in a new, easily digestible format.

He anticipates the various city departments have taken seriously the charge to find efficiencies and make cuts where they will be least painful, and hopes council can approve a budget “without too much drama.”

While most of the aldermen interviewed are not so sure the budget will be painless or drama-free, some are simply resigned to the certainty that when they take their seats in the council chamber later this month, it will be for the long haul.

“As a matter of fact, I wouldn’t be surprised to see it go overtime,” says Ward 5 Ald. Ray Jones, who has been an Alderman for 18 years. “God, I tell you there’s nothing more boring than sitting through a budget debate.”