ATHABASCA – The Town of Athabasca has cleared the last administrative hurdle before sending out tax notices as ratepayers will face a two-and-a-half per cent tax rate hike in 2023.
During their May 2 council meeting, councillors passed Bylaw 006-2023, voting 7-0 multiple times to pass it through its second and third readings — council is required to annually pass a property tax bylaw under Section 353 (1) of the Municipal Government Act. This year, the residential tax rate will be 8.94 per cent, and the non-residential rate will be 17.70 per cent, which the town expects will net $4,287,182 in revenue. The rates were increased 2.5 per cent this year, which will increase revenues by $170,946.
“Part of it is based on what our assessment comes in at,” explained mayor Rob Balay. “If it’s lower, it lowers the municipality’s revenue, and if it’s higher, it raises it. This year’s assessment was pretty flat, but taxes had to go up slightly due to the rising costs of inflation, the price of energy, and utilities. It forced us to raise them to some degree.”
Despite the increase, Balay believes they’re doing their best to keep taxes at a reasonable level, pointing to hikes in other municipalities like Edmonton. For a ratepayer whose property is assessed at $200,000, the 2.5 per cent increase will cost them an additional $43.63.
“We’re well aware that inflation has hurt all the businesses, and our residents. Energy costs, price of food, we keep all that in mind when we’re trying to make that decision,” said Balay. “To me, it’s harder to raise taxes during these times, then when the economy is doing good, and there isn’t high inflation.”
The town has created incentives to try and drive growth with these principles in mind; with slow consistent growth, it eases the reliance on raising taxes for the municipality, said Balay. Councillors hope that Bylaw 005-2023, which lays out tax breaks for new business development, will start to grow the town’s economy.
In addition to municipal taxes, the town also collects three different levies: the Alberta Schools Foundation Fund (ASFF), the lodge requisition for the Greater North Foundation (GNF), and designated industrial requisition.
ASFF is the largest of the three and goes towards funding schools. This year, the town will collect $1,035,150, with $657,513 coming from a 2.50 per cent rate on residential properties, and $377,637 coming from a 3.55 per cent rate on non-residential properties.
The lodge requisition goes towards GNF, which provides housing for low-income seniors, or other families. This year, the town will collect $47,155, which is based on a 0.12 per cent rate, on the assessment of $369,092,240.
The final requisition is the designated industrial, which is by far the smallest of the three. This year the town will collect $448 from a 0.07 per cent rate on the $6,005,360 in taxable assessment.
