Airdrie City council approved a tax rate bylaw with a tax increase of 2.74 per cent, May 7.
Thanks to higher than projected growth in 2011, the amount collected will be more than budgeted, allowing the City to transfer $94,351 to reserves.
“We kept the tax rate low and increased service levels for residents this year with new positions in communications, economic development and community safety,” said Mayor Peter Brown.
The average Airdrie home, valued at $330,400, will pay $36.01 more in taxes this year, an increase of 2.59 per cent.
The City’s General Operations revenue is budgeted at $59 million, an increase of $5.2 million from 2011. Utility Operations reflects gross revenue of $19.2 million, an increase of three per cent over last year.
Several cuts were made by the City to achieve the 2.7 per cent increase including deferring a $2.6 million renovation to the Bert Church Theatre, which would have been funded by Municipality Sustainability Initiative (MSI) grants.
This year, an average commercial business valued at $512,200 will pay $233.50 more in taxes, up 6.04 per cent, while an industrial business, valued at $351,450, will pay $71.38 more, up 2.61 per cent.
School requisitions, which are established by Alberta Education, are also up by 6.4 per cent this year to $1.979 billion. The assessed value of all property in Airdrie is $6.6 billion.
The median single-family residence decreased in value by 2.39 per cent.
The assessed values of industrial businesses also decreased from $360,000 to $351,450, while the average commercial property’s value went up from $507,650 to $512,200.
Homes that are within the 12,600 acres of land that was recently annexed by the City from the county must be taxed at Rocky View’s rate for 20 years with farms mirroring the County’s rate for 30 years.
Last year, residents experienced a 4.097 per cent tax increase.
Council used a $233,000 surplus to lower the tax rate from the projected 4.9 per cent.
