Town of Athabasca residents will see a tax increase of at least two per cent due to an increase in the education levy collected through property taxes.
This was revealed after the provincial budget was unveiled last Thursday.
Although the town has not looked at their budget yet, they will have to take into consideration the two-per-cent increase. The mill rate will then be raised a minimum of two per cent for the upcoming tax year.
ìWhat this will mean is that even if council does not increase the mill rate at all in our operating budget, the total mill rate will increase two per cent because of the education portion of property taxes,î chief administrative officer Ryan Maier said. ìThis is something we as a municipality cannot control, yet has a huge impact on overall property tax bills.î
Of the property taxes residents paid last year to the town, 22 per cent of the total of that bill went to the province for education.
Since 2009, the education portion of property taxes has increased by 12.4 per cent.
In 2009, the amount collected was $715,574.26. In 2013 that amount will increase to more than $1 million.
Athabasca University has seen a 7.3-per-cent cut to their funding for the next year.
ìWeíre still working through what that actually means for Athabasca University, but we will have less money to operate with next year,î communication officer John OíBrien said. ìWeíve got to get at the books again, and see what affect it will have.î
At the moment, Athabasca University hasnít had a chance to see how this budget decrease will affect them.
ìWe just know that weíre going to have less money to operate with,î OíBrien explained. ìOverall, there was $147 million cut from the post secondary budget.î
OíBrien said the cut was unexpected.
ìWe had been promised, as had the entire sector, that there would be a two per cent increase this year, and not decreases,î he said. ìItís going to be tough times. No one is sugar coating it, but we just donít know the impact yet.î
