County tax rates largely unchanged in 2021

By Sean Feagan, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Municipal property taxes in Wheatland County are largely unchanged this year, despite a decrease in total tax assessment value.

Wheatland County council passed this year’s tax rate bylaw in a special meeting held April 13. The municipal tax rates contained in this bylaw are similar to rates in 2020.

But residents may experience either an increase or decrease in their property assessment, which will change what they pay overall in taxes, explained Tracy Buteau, Wheatland County’s general manager of corporate and financial services.

Rates for general municipal taxes – taxes allocated as county revenue – are unchanged from last year: 3.5390 mills (equal to the amount payable in dollars per $1,000 of property assessment value) for residential properties, 12.5985 mills for farmland, and 8.5211 for non-residential properties and machinery and equipment.

The education tax rate, which determines education funding paid to either the Alberta School Foundation Fund (for public schools) or Christ the Redeemer Catholic Schools, increased slightly for residential and farmland properties (from 2.5312 mills in 2020 to 2.6721 mills in 2021) and decreased slightly for non-residential properties (from 3.9977 mills in 2020 to 3.9498 in 2021).

For residential or farmland properties, this increase represents just 0.14 cents for every $1,000 of assessment venue. Conversely, this change for non-residential properties represents a decrease of just about four cents for every $1,000 of assessment.

The tax rate for allocations to Drumheller and District Solid Waste Management Association, for waste disposal, increased from 0.0894 mills in 2020 to 0.0927 mills in 2021. The tax rate for allocations to Wheatland Housing Management Body, for local seniors’ housing, decreased from 0.0765 mills in 2020 to 0.0759 mills in 2021.

The total value of property tax assessment was lower in 2020 (about $3.9 billion) than in 2019 (about $4.1 billion). Of the county’s 2020 property assessment, non-residential properties comprise about 47 per cent (about $1.8 billion) of total value, compared to about 30 per cent (about $1.2 billion) for residential properties. The remaining assessment value in 2020 is made up of machinery and equipment (about 18 per cent or around $700 million) and farmland (about five per cent or around $200 million).