Following the receipt of Athabasca County’s 2014 assessment, county council has dropped the county’s tax rate by 1.8 per cent.
According to Brian Pysyk, acting chief administrative officer for the county, it is hard to determine what sort of drop each landowner will see on their tax bill.
“Assuming the residential assessment has not changed (from) last year, taxes will probably go down,” Pysyk said.
The municipal rate for the county has increased by two per cent from 2013; however, drops in both the school and Greater North Foundation requisitions led to the 1.8-per-cent decrease.
The increase in assessment value is due to a couple factors, Pysyk said.
“The market is still there at a higher value. Some of our assessment growth is due to new development, and some is due to the fact houses are selling at a higher rate.”
“Quite frankly, I’m proud of what we’ve done,” said councillor Larry Armfelt.
Reeve Doris Splane was pleased with the decrease for ratepayers.
“It’s going to be nice not to have to charge the ratepayer, but still be able to do things for them,” she said.
Former Athabasca County chief administrative officer Gary Buchanan received $105,727 in severance pay after being let go earlier this month, the Advocate has learned.
The severance was seven months of his $181,246 annual salary.
