Rocky View County (RVC) council unanimously approved the 2016 Master Rates Bylaw Jan. 12, to be effective as of Feb. 1. This bylaw details what Rocky View residents pay for services and products, such as building permits, utilities and dog licenses.
“The bylaw was prepared in consultation with all County departments in accordance with the 2016 Operating Base Budget, which was passed in December 2015,” said Municipal Clerk Nona Housenga.
Changes have been submitted for a number of RVC departments, including Legislative Services, Financial Services, Enforcement, Roads Maintenance, Operations, Solid Waste and Recycling, Cemetery, Building Services and Development Services.
According to administration’s report, increases were applied to some servicing fees in order to help the County move toward full cost recovery. These include road maintenance services, water services, sewer services, and cemetery services. Costs for permit fees, including building and development permits, will also increase slightly to account for additional administrative costs.
“In some cases, we are covering a cost that we incur ourselves, and in other cases we are not quite there yet,” said Kent Robinson, general manager with RVC. “The bottom line is that we are moving towards cost recovery in many cases.”
For more information, visit rockyview.ca. The updated bylaw will be available to view online.
Property tax relief bylaw
A second bylaw was unanimously approved by council to provide property tax relief funding to property owners whose property or businesses were deemed uninhabitable for a period of more than 90 days.
According to RVC administration, this applies to nine residential and four non-residential properties in the 2015 tax year. RVC will request a refund of $34,574 from Alberta Municipal Affairs as part of the Southern Alberta Flood Response Program.
According to RVC Chief Assessor Ted Boyda, this marks the third year of a three-year program. The original claim was submitted in 2013, when 12 residential and nine non-residential properties qualified for the program.
“Each and every year since 2013, my assessment department goes out and conducts physical inspections on the properties that were hit by that flood,” Boyda said. “They have to meet the criteria each and every year, and as you can see by the numbers being reduced, more of the properties are having a bounce back for rebuilding and rejuvenation and reconstruction.”
Tax refunds will be mailed to the eligible property owners upon approval of the bylaw and submission of the grant application to the province for reimbursement.
