EDITORS NOTE: A quote from Reeve Brian Hall has been corrected to read “I looked at the list, I think in the next upcoming years, we’ll see those non-residential (lists) grow."
ATHABASCA—Athabasca County residents will pay more this year after councillors voted to approve raises to both residential and non-residential property tax rates.
Councillors voted 6-2 — Coun. Kelly Chamzuk was absent — to pass their tax rate bylaw during a special meeting May 16. Councillors Tracy Holland and Gary Cromwell both voted against the bylaw; neither councillor stated their reasoning during discussions, and neither returned a May 16 request to speak on the matter.
The residential mill rate increased from 0.00454 to 0.00468, a three per cent increase, and the non-residential rate increased from 0.0168 to 0.0177, a five per cent increase. The ratio of non-residential to residential taxes increased from 3.8:1 to 3.9:1 — the maximum allowed under the MGA is 5:1.
New this year is a small business tax break, which lowers taxes by 25 per cent. In order to qualify, businesses need to have fewer than 25 employees across the country, and they need to own or lease the land they operate on. So far, only four businesses have applied, but councillors are hoping that number will increase as word travels.
“I looked at the list, I think in the next upcoming years, we’ll see those non-residential (lists) grow,” said Reeve Brian Hall. “I want to congratulate council on having the courage to be progressive with that bylaw.”
Athabasca County’s assessment values went up from 2023. Residential properties increased from $1.07 million to $1.18 million, farmland decreased by about $150,000, and non-residential lots increased by $2.3 million.
In total, the county is expecting to receive $30.4 million from taxation in 2024, $2.1 million more than in 2023. It will take in $5.23 million in residential taxes, $1.1 million from non-residential, $10.2 million from linear properties, and $9.7 million from designated industrial properties.
Budget changes
With the new tax rate comes an updated budget — councillors made some small changes to their interim budget passed back in December. The new budget contains increased service levels to programs, including church and cemetery mowing, and new staffing hires, including a deputy fire chief and a counselling team leader at FCSS.
Councillors asked for a few changes of their own to the budget, including Hall’s request to change how the county manages upcoming costs.
“The habit we’ve tended to have of do nothing until the year that something concurs and then spend it all in that year, I don’t think it’s a great management practice,” said Hall, using orthophotos — aerial photos the county takes every four years — as an example. “I would like to put some money into an operating reserve …. We put a little aside every year, sort of like paying an amortization on those photos.”
Holland and Cromwell both voted against the budget, with Holland raising questions about a section of the capital budget needed to be retitled. Originally titled Plamondon Connector and budgeted at $3.6 million, councillors chose to rename the line item to road paving after Coun. Ashtin Anderson expressed some concerns with the project.
“I just want to see it compared to other projects before we see it surfaced,” said Anderson. “Maybe that project is the one we chose, but (we should) make the informed decision based on the ranking matrix for the one we pursue.”
