WESTLOCK – Town of Westlock Property owners will see a three per cent increase on their taxes this year, following the passage of tax rate bylaw.
The 2023-05 Tax Rate Bylaw, prepared as per the 2023 capital and operating budgets and provincial requisitions (education, Homeland Housing and designated industrial property), was passed 7-0 by councillors at the April 24 regular council meeting.
The town had previously implemented zero tax increases in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic and raised them 1.9 per cent in 2022. The hike this year means that property owners will pay an average of about $66 a year or $5.50 per month, while business owners will pay about $117 annually.
Mayor Ralph Leriger noted discussions when passing this year’s operating budget and what they were trying to address. “We had come off of 1.9 per cent increase, two zeros as well during COVID-19 and so we’re trying to address utilities, insurance, and people and the increases that we’ve seen,” said Leriger, noting that the town has managed to increase service levels a bit at town facilities while trying to keep costs as reasonable as possible. “Certainly, for an organization like our public works fuel is a big cost to that and these costs don’t stay stagnant, they go up year after year after year and it makes it challenging.”
The 2023 operating budget required amendments to align with tax rates and because of assessment changes, including provincial education and Homeland Housing requisition amounts that were previously estimated but have since been confirmed. Director of finance Julia Seppola provided details of the operating budget amendments in a presentation to councillors at the April 24 meeting.
“The operating budget amendments are just in review of what we have for residential taxation versus what was calculated for assessment,” said Seppola. “Most of the changes come through in the education tax because it was lower — I predicted an increase and it actually decreased so that’s where most of the $183,000 dollars has been adjusted to.”
Mayor Ralph Leriger asked how that $183,975.07 affects the tax rate or the budget, and Seppola pointed out that the education tax requestion dropped by $9,000 “so that’s where those adjustments are coming from mostly. You can see that that’s gone down by $81,000. The Homeland Housing requisition went up by $16,496.”
While the $183,000 decreases the overall operating budget, Seppola noted it “has no affect to our operating budget but to the taxpayer,” she said. “For a $250,000 assessed value, they’re going to see their education tax go down by $13.25.”
Kristine Jean, TownandCountryToday.com
For residents, the town says that a home valued at $250,000 in 2022 that paid $2,509.60 in property taxes, will now have an assessment of $247,850 and will face a tax bill of $2,584.94. Factoring in the Homeland Housing requisition, along with an estimate for the Alberta Education requestion, the total bill is $3,390.71 compared to $3,324.46 in 2022. Citing a $500,000 business as an example, in 2022 the owner would have paid $8,772.70 in tax, $308.65 to Homeland Housing and $2,042.05 to Alberta Education. This year, that business is now expected to be valued at $518,900 and will pay $9,104.31 in taxes, $331.20 to Homeland Housing and $1,805.41 to Alberta Education for a total increase of $117.53.
