February 2022 Newsletter

Hello Ward 14.

February is for days with the family, romantic nights out, and dreaming of longer days with warmer weather. I hope to share some info that will help you get through the month.

2022 Property Assessments

Reviewing your property assessment is a habit that you should get into. You have the right to ensure that it is accurate, fair, and equitable. Be sure to review your assessment notice for inaccuracies when you receive it, because it may save you some money.

Here is how you can complete a self-review:

1. Review your notice for factual errors and contact the City if you find any.
2. Log on to your secure Assessment Search account (calgary.ca/assessmentsearch). While logged on you can review your property’s details, compare your property’s assessed value with similar properties in your area to ensure fairness, and review real estate market trends.
3. Understand your tax implication. The City offers a preliminary property tax calculator to help property owners estimate their upcoming taxes. Please visit calgary.ca/taxcalculator.

You can contact the City during the Customer Review Period and one of our property assessment experts will help you. Call 403.268.2888 or visit calgary.ca/assessment.

Winter Home Safety Tips

Home-heating fires can be devastating, but most are preventable by taking some simple precautions.

Install smoke alarms in every bedroom, outside each sleeping area and on every level of your home.

• Install carbon monoxide (CO) alarms outside each sleeping area, on every level of the home, and wherever required by laws, codes, or standards.
• Interconnect all smoke alarms so that when one sounds, they all sound.
• Test your alarms monthly and change the batteries once a year.
• Practice your home escape plan.
• Have your home heating equipment and chimney inspected annually by a qualified professional and have them cleaned if necessary.
• Use a sturdy fireplace screen in front of fireplaces to protect yourself, children, and pets from accidental contact burns.
• Allow ashes to cool before disposing of them, then be sure to put them in a metal container.
• Portable heaters need space. Keep all things that can burn, such as paper, bedding, or furniture, at least one metre (three feet) away from heating equipment and have a one metre, kid-free zone around space or portable heaters.
• Turn portable heaters off when you go to bed or leave the room.
• Plug portable heaters directly into power outlets with sufficient capacity. Don’t plug them into a power bar and never into an extension cord.
• Inspect power plugs and cables for cracked or broken plugs or loose connections and replace before using.
• Never use an oven to heat your home.

For more fire safety tips visit: calgary.ca/fire.

Help protect your household water pipes from freezing this winter

Every winter some Calgarians experience frozen water pipes, which can result in water outages. Houses close to the river or in older communities tend to be at higher risk for this happening. Other major factors that impact risk are the depth of your water service pipes, river water temperature and frost depth.

You can take steps to reduce your risk for frozen household pipes

1. Look for cold drafts in unheated areas where water supply lines are located. This includes basements, crawl spaces, attics, garages and under kitchen and bathroom cabinets.
2. Repair broken windows, check doors and insulate areas that allow cold exterior air to enter.
3. Insulate your hot and cold-water pipes that are located in cold areas.
4. Open interior doors and cabinets in cold areas to allow heat from the house to warm unprotected pipes.
5. Keep the heat set to at least 15 C.
6. Make sure the water line to outside faucets, garden hoses, pools or decorative water features is turned off, disconnected and drained.
7. If your hot water tank is in a maintenance room outside of your home, make sure the area is adequately heated.
8. Regularly run water in your pipes through everyday use.

Find out more at calgary.ca/frozenpipes.

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Feel free to contact me any time. The best way to contact me is by visiting calgary.ca/contactward14.

-Councillor Peter Demong