Strathmore residents need not worry about increases to Education Property Tax

Times Contributor   

 

Last month Strathmore residents may have heard that Chestermere residents face a 53 per cent increase in property tax this year, amounting to approximately $400 more per household, with less than four months notice. 

This increase occurred because the provincial government announced a sudden end to the Education Property Tax Mitigation, which had been put in place for rapidly-growing communities in the year 2000.

While the Town of Chestermere  agrees that all Albertans need to fairly contribute to the costs of education, they were and still are upset that there was no notice about the massive increase. 

Mayor Patricia Matthews believes there will be an immediate and detrimental effect on Chesteremere and all other communities affected.  

Tahra Sabir, secretary-treasurer for Golden Hills School Division, said “Strathmore is not a (rapidly) growing community, so it doesn’t affect us.”

“Nothing in Strathmore has triggered the Education portion of the property tax,” Sabir said. “It was all related to the growth of the town, and I’m not aware of anything in Strathmore to trigger (a change in) that.”

Therefore, Sabir does not expect the end of the Property Tax Mitigation to cause either an increase or a decrease in the property taxes paid by Strathmore residents.