Property values decrease, affecting tax rate

By Sean Feagan, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Despite a slight increase in tax rate, the Town of Strathmore will collect less property taxes this year because of decreased assessed property values.

Based on the total property assessment and tax rate set, the town will collect less taxes this year, about $18.4 million; that’s a decrease of $171,000 from last year’s $18.6 million.

“If a tax rate bylaw can be good news, then this bylaw is a good news story for the community,” said Mel Tiede, the town’s director of corporate services.

The decline was driven by a $20 million decrease in property assessment values in Strathmore, from about $1.95 billion in 2020 to about $1.93 billion in 2021. The decline follows a decrease of about $12 million in assessed value the previous year.

As the economy recovers, Strathmore’s tax assessment value should increase, said Tiede “Real estate, particularly in the city, has moved ahead significantly,” he said. “Strathmore is always lagging to trends in the city, and so we anticipate that property values will move, but perhaps somewhat more modestly than the city has experienced.”

Despite the decrease in total taxation, the overall tax rate increased slightly. The residential tax rate for 2021 is 9.165 mills (the amount of tax paid per $1,000 of assessed property value), an increase of 0.023 mills from last year’s rate of 9.142. For a $400,000 home, assuming its assessed value remained constant, this represents an increase of just $9 in yearly taxes.

Strathmore’s property taxes have three components: municipal taxes (funding town spending), the education requisition (funding schools), and the Wheatland Housing Management Body (funding seniors’ housing).

This year, more money is going to the town and, as determined by the province, less is going to education, per tax dollar: the municipal tax rate increased from 6.452 in 2020 to 6.52 mills in 2021, an increase of about one per cent, while the education requisition decreased from 2.616 in 2020 to 2.57 mills in 2021, a decrease of almost two per cent. The rate for Wheatland Housing increased from 0.074 mills in 2020 to 0.075 mills in 2021.

Strathmore’s tax rate in 2020 (9.142) remained above surrounding communities, including Airdrie (7.387), Calgary (7.407), Cochrane (7.418), Chestermere (7.667) and Okotoks (8.090). However, those communities are substantially larger, both in terms of population and assessment base.

Last year, many Alberta towns and cities, including Strathmore, amended the due date for property taxes. But delaying the due date again this year would cause uncertainty regarding cash flow for the town and would require a capital borrowing bylaw to be passed, explained Tiede. “The town needs certainty as to cash flow,” he said.