The Southern Alberta Flood Response Program will offer financial relief to 22 property owners in the Bragg Creek area whose houses or businesses were severely impacted and uninhabitable for more than 90 days after the June 2013 flooding disaster.
Rocky View County (RVC) council approved providing a tax refund totalling $46,071.82 for the 2013 taxation year for 13 residential property owners and nine non-residential properties in the hamlet and along the Elbow River basin at the council meeting on Jan. 14. Each property owner will receive a refund in the form of a check from the County for the amount paid on their taxes in the last half of 2013.
RVC Manager of Assessment Services Ted Boyda said Alberta Municipal Affairs will refund the County the amount in the form of a grant through the Flood Response Program, expected to come in March or April.
A three-year program, the Flood Response Program is offered to municipalities that declared a State of Local Emergency or are in areas where the Province declared a provincial state of emergency. The intent of the program is to offset lost revenues for municipalities that chose to forgive residents taxes whose homes or properties were deemed uninhabitable for a prolonged period of time.
“The County won’t be out any dollars on taxes. The intent is to offer relief to the ratepayer for repair of their property,” said Boyda.
He said the County’s Assessment Department inspected and reviewed 287 properties within the hamlet and 34 properties outside the boundaries, and found 22 properties qualified under the program.
Boyda said the property tax refund is only for the six months following the June flood and is based on the assessment from last year. Properties eligible for a tax refund going forward are reviewed annually.
Councillor Lois Habberfield said she thinks it will be onerous for ratepayers whose properties are still uninhabitable in the 2014 and 2015 taxation year to pay the tax bill upfront and wait to receive a refund.
Reeve Margaret Bahcheli said she thinks it is easier for the County to assess properties retroactively rather than trying to anticipate the amount of time the property will be uninhabitable going into the next year.
Bragg Creek-area Councillor Liz Breakey thanked the County “for their compassion towards these people.”
“They have become homeless, or their businesses are finished – that’s the simple truth. Therefore to effectively pay taxes for something they can’t live in or can’t operate… I think the County and the Province is doing the responsible thing,” she said.
“Every dollar counts for these people right now,” Breakey added.
Boyda said other properties in the flooded areas may receive adjustments for the 2014 tax year.
“There will be some relief in the assessment being reduced. That will be reflective until such time that there is improvement in the market place in Bragg Creek and the surrounding areas,” he said.
He added that may take three to five years, but could be a shorter or longer period of time.
“We constantly review the assessment in those areas and in other areas in the municipality.”
