Mill rate approved

Shannon LeClair
Times Reporter

 

The 2015 tax rate bylaw was presented to council on April 15. Director of Corporate Services Mel Tiede said the mill rate is calculated by using the 2015 budget and assessment rolls for taxable properties within the town.
Property within the town that had been annexed but not subdivided will have an applicable mill rate that was established by Wheatland County.
The residential mill rate is 5.557, down from 2014’s 5.825.
The municipal non-residential rate is 6.312 compared to 6.474 in 2014. The total residential mill rate for 2015, including education and Wheatland Housing, is 7.978. In 2014 it was at 8.431, which is a decrease of 5.3 per cent.
“The general municipal assessment base increased by 7.3 per cent as a result of a growth of three per cent, and the balance being market value increases,” said Tiede.
The mill rate was applied to 21 different residences, using one or two houses from each community in town.
“The total taxes for the 21 residential properties increased by $157 in 2015, from $49,476 in 2014 to $49,632 in 2015. This was an increase in taxation of $7 per residential property within the sample year-over-year, and a total of $15 increase for the two years,” said Tiede.
The education portion of the tax is remitted to the province of Alberta, and increased by $37,600 in 2015. An adjustment has been made to the taxable status of social housing properties, which includes Wheatland Housing and Management. In the past the government would pay a grant in place of taxes. This grant amounted to $47,500 in 2014.
“On March 31, 2015 the province announced that this grant would no longer be paid, and the status of properties would be similar to senior homes and nursing homes, which are exempt to taxation,” said Tiede.
“Combined these two changes (education and social) increase property taxation in 2015 by eight tenths of one per cent.”
When going through the budget Tiede and council looked hard to find ways to keep the tax base low to attract population, and Councillor Denise Peterson said she remembers distinctly how hard they worked to take a full percentage- almost two per cent- off of the initial tax base.
“I find it horrifying that we’re now looking at an almost one per cent increase due to the cutback to one of our most marginalized populations, and we had intentions brought to this council, by Councillor Sobol I believe in the past at looking at enhancing social housing in our community, this certainly will be, I think, problematic under this consideration,” said Peterson.
The tax rate bylaw was approved by council.