Property mill rate down 2%

Times Reporter  

 

Mel Tiede, director of corporate services for the Town of Strathmore, presented council with the 2014 tax rate bylaw at the April 16 council meeting. 

“Included in the property taxes collected by the town there was an amount for education taxes, this amount of tax is requisitioned by the province annually in the spring of each year,” said Tiede.

“The amount of education tax payable to Strathmore in this current 2014 year is $217,000 less than last year. The full saving of this amount is being passed on to the property owners; this has helped reduce the property tax mill rate by two per cent.”

Tiede said the 2014 municipal residential mill rate is 5.825; in 2013 it was 5.81. The municipal non-residential mill rate is 6.474, and in 2013 it was 6.465. The 2014 total residential mill rate, including education and Wheatland Housing, is 8.431, and in 2013 the comparable mill rate was 8.605, which is a decrease of two per cent in mill rate. 

“Applying the mill rate to a sampling of 21 residential properties, nine showed a decrease in total taxes, the largest being $81. Twelve residential properties showed an increase, the largest single increase being $150. The total taxes for the 21 residential properties increased by $166 from $49,310 to $49,476. This is an average increase of $8 per residential property within that small sampling that I completed,” said Tiede.

The municipal mill rate is determined from the 2014 budget and the taxable assessed properties within the Town of Strathmore. Properties within the town that were annexed and have not been subdivided have the applicable mill rate applied as established by Wheatland County in accord with the order in council. Councillor Denise Peterson said it was very good news to see the savings, and Councillor Bob Sobol was happy to that the municipality didn’t even consider keeping the money as was done in other municipalities. Approval was unanimously given to the tax rate bylaw.