WESTLOCK - Despite a zero per cent tax rate increase for a second-consecutive year, Town of Westlock ratepayers will probably see small jumps to their tax bills due to increased education and seniors requisitions.
At their April 12 meeting, town councillors unanimously passed 2021-11 Tax Rate Bylaw, as well as an amended operating budget — the tax notices are slated to be mailed out this week, while the due date is June 30. In total, the municipality will collect $9,307,632 in taxes for itself, as well as the provincial government for education and Homeland Housing, which takes care of seniors lodges in town. The operating budget amendment was needed to balance tax collection with the operating budget and education, seniors housing and designated industrial properties requisitions - the net result is that the transfer from last year’s surplus will drop from $110,000 to $87,925.
Councillors had committed to a zero per cent tax increase when they passed the 2021 operating budget Dec. 14 as at that meeting Coun. Randy Wold said, “Zero per cent is what’s required right now,” while Coun. Murtaza Jamaly stated, “The community needs zero per cent this year, there is no option.”
“Everybody that got a tax notice last year will see a market shift in their assessment for sure, plus or minus five per cent … More likely they’ll see an increase to their education and seniors requisition. The seniors requisition doesn’t make up a lot of your tax notice, but it will impact your bill at the end of the day,” explained town finance director Julia Seppola.
Added mayor Ralph Leriger: “And that’s the case every year, if we say it’s zero per cent that’s overall collected. If your assessment went up or down, it may not be the case individually.”
Of the $9.3M total, the town will keep $7,151,645 based on a total assessment of $601,533,250 — all of the residential properties in town have a combined assessment of $368,604,020, while commercial properties total $159,877,950. For residential, the tax rate per $1,000 of assessment is 9.9592, while for non-residential (commercial) it’s 16.8033.
Requsitions
And while the town will keep just over $7M for its purposes, they will collect $1,796,445 for the Alberta School Foundation Fund and the Evergreen Catholic Regional Division — the requisition includes $8,463 prior year under collected money. Administration’s briefing to council notes that the education requisition has increased by $67,256 over last year, approximately 3.9 per cent.
A further $358,894 will also be collected and turned over to Homeland Housing — up $22,075, or approximately 6.5 per cent over 2020. Finally, $648 is collected for a Designated Industrial Property Requisition, a provincial rate set by Ministerial Order which will be added to the prescribed properties under a new assessment code.
“From what I saw our total taxes in this bylaw are going to be about $9.3 million and about 20 per cent, $1.7 or $1.8, goes to the government. It would be nice that the ratepayers understood that. Taxes are so high, but 20 per cent of what we’re collecting we never see,” noted Coun. John Shoemaker.
What you'll pay
In her briefing to council Seppola noted estimates of -2.16 per cent and -3.57 per cent market adjustments for residential and non-residential properties, respectively, as well as a change in classes this year which saw the tax rate being adjusted accordingly.
As an example, she said that a home worth $250,000 whose assessed value decreased by 2.16 per cent will see an increase of $16 per year ($1.34 per month) mainly due to the education and seniors requisition increases.
“So if your assessment stayed the same, you’ll pay the same, other than the difference between housing and education,” CAO Simone Wiley explained.
And while there’s a general sense that the housing market heated up in 2020, any increases to assessment won’t show up for a while, said Seppola.
“Assessment doesn’t catch up to us for quite a while, we’re looking at 2019 values really. The assessors starts his cycle in July and it’s supposed to be the values in July and what’s on the property as of Dec. 31. I don’t think there was much market movement but I’d have to ask a realtor what the market was like in July, but from what I recall there wasn’t a lot moving in town, but there wasn’t a whole lot of inventory either, as I recall,” she said.
Of note, $180,194,270 worth of properties in Westlock (about 24 per cent of the total assessment), which includes things like the hospital, churches, the Rotary Spirit Centre and schools, aren’t taxed.
“That’s nothing to sneeze at. Those are real properties that require municipal services and are tax exempt,” said Leriger.
Seppola did note they’ve been notified by the province that the grant in lieu of taxes, which pays for the property services for some of those facilities, will be paid to a maximum of 50 per cent of the tax bill.
“What we have to do is bill them for 100 per cent and then they only send us 50 per cent. That allowance has been written into the budget and has been taken care of,” said Seppola.
