Residents of Airdrie won’t be receiving their tax assessments for a while yet after City council delayed approving a request from staff to adopt the tax rate for 2015 at its meeting on May 19.
Director of Corporate Services Lucy Wiwcharuk presented council with information about the tax rate, which includes a mandatory education tax paid to the Alberta School Foundation Fund (ASFF).
Assessment notices were sent to Airdrie residences in January and the appeals process was closed in March. According to Wiwcharuk, finance staff were then able to determine the actual revenue the City would generate through taxes, based on the number of additional residences in the city and their assessed values.
“The amount of tax revenue generated each year does remain constant and added to that is the additional revenue from growth as well as any tax increase approved as part of the budget process,” she said. A 4.77 per cent tax increase was approved by council as part of budget deliberations in December.
According to Wiwcharuk, the majority of homeowners will actually pay less than the 4.77 per cent increase approved by council, because of the city’s growth and costs being spread against more parcels.
“When the 2015 budget was prepared, we estimated our growth at $2.5 million,” she said. “Our actual growth came really close this year at $2.58 million. As per our reserve policy, we are recommending this actual growth revenue be transferred to the general operating reserve.”
The extra revenue amounts to $79,997, according to Wiwcharuk.
The average homeowner will see an increase in their municipal taxes, including the education tax, of $9.78 per month if the tax rate is adopted.
Wiwcharuk presented information from other Alberta municipalities showing what tax increases their residents would see in 2015. Cochrane residents will see an increase of just under seven per cent, while Grande Prairie’s increase is the highest at more than nine per cent.
Alderman Allan Hunter asked Wiwcharuk what the tax rate is in Calgary.
“Calgary’s tax rate is 3.5 per cent, so slightly lower than Airdrie,” Wiwcharuk said. “However, their median home price is about 25 per cent higher than Airdrie so the tax each person pays or the average tax is higher than Airdrie due to their increased assessed value.”
Council unanimously approved transferring the additional $79,997 in tax revenue to the General Operating Reserve.
First reading of the new bylaw passed unanimously. Second reading also passed, however, Hunter cast the lone dessenting vote. Permission for third reading failed when Hunter again cast the lone vote in opposition.
Hunter could not be reached for comment by press time.
Wiwcharuk said while information has already been publicized indicating tax notices would be mailed on May 29, with tax payments due June 30, she said delaying the decision until council next meets on June 1 would simply mean those notices would be delayed and the deadline pushed back by approximately a week.
Cash flow would also be impacted in a minor way.
