Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas reflects on first months in office

There was significant turnover at Calgary city hall in 2025 after an election that saw a new mayor elected alongside a city council with 10 new faces.

On Oct. 20, Calgarians chose Jeromy Farkas to be their next mayor, defeating incumbent Jyoti Gondek.  It was the first time an incumbent mayor in Calgary hadn’t been re-elected in nearly 50 years.

Farkas’ victory wasn’t made official until days after the election due to a recount, which confirmed Farkas won the election by a narrow 616 votes over runner-up Sonya Sharp.

Council immediately began budget deliberations in November, in which the final year of a four-year budget approved by the previous city council was adjusted.

After eight days of questions and debate, city council approved a 1.6 per cent property tax increase, a lower hike than the 3.6 per cent overall increase that was originally proposed. Council used income the city receives from its investments to lower the tax increase, and reserves to cover millions of dollars in new spending initiatives for public safety, transit, housing and infrastructure.

Weeks after the budget’s approval, city council voted to kickstart the process to repeal citywide rezoning, a contentious housing policy from the previous city council that changed the city’s base residential zoning to allow for more housing types on a single property to boost supply and improve affordability.

In the video above, Global Calgary’s city hall reporter Adam MacVicar sat down with the mayor in his office to discuss his first few months in office, and his vision for the next four years.