BARRHEAD - County of Barrhead councillors reluctantly cancelled a portion of the property tax owed by the province.
On June 3, the council wrote off a quarter or roughly $7,460 of the more than $29,800 the Government of Alberta (GOA) owes the municipality in 2025 for the 91 properties it owns throughout the county.
The properties include Crown grazing leases and land in forest-protected areas such as Holmes Crossing near the county border with Woodlands County.
Finance director Tamara Molzahn said technically, the province does not pay property taxes.
Instead, she said, the province gives municipalities grants in lieu of taxes.
Molzahn said that at one time, the grants were worth 100 percent of the taxes owed, and then they dropped to 75 per cent in 2019 before falling to 50 per cent in 2020.
"Now it's back up to 75 per cent," she said.
Deputy Reeve Marvin Schatz said that although he understood the council had little choice in writing off the owed amount, the municipality should be receiving the proper amount of property tax owed. He added that if they didn't, the municipality should be able to charge interest.
Barry Kerton, TownandCountryToday.com
