Alberta municipalities ponder wide range of tax increases
By Lethbridge Herald on December 9, 2022.
Lethbridge approved an annual residential property tax increase of 5.1 per cent. Provincial municipalities have until the end of December to adopt their operating budgets and are working on establishing property tax rates.
Herald file photoAl Beeber – LETHBRIDGE HERALD – abeeber@lethbridgeherald.com
Provincial municipalities have until the end of December to adopt their operating budgets and are working on establishing property tax rates.
Lethbridge city council in November approved an annual residential property tax increase of 5.1 per cent for the next four years. If all initiatives put forward to council had been approved, taxpayers would have been looking at an annual hike of 6.06 per cent.
Medicine Hat residents are facing a budget that proposes four per cent increases when its council makes a decision.
The City of Lloydminster has approved a budget calling for a municipal tax increase of 4.8 per cent.
Residents in Red Deer can expect to see a 4.61 per cent municipal tax increase in 2023 and 4.12 per cent in 2024. Owners of a typical Red Deer home assessed at $345,000 will pay roughly $114 more in property taxes per year.
Calgary city council, meanwhile, has approved its four-year budget with taxpayers facing a 4.4 per cent residential property tax hike per year. Calgary residents also had to deal with a 3.61 per cent increase to property taxes in 2022.
Edmonton residents could be facing a 3.9 per cent increase annually for the next four years when council makes its decision later this month. Residents there were handed a 1.9 per cent increase in 2022.
Residents of St. Albert, just north of Edmonton, are facing a 5.8 per cent increase for 2023 when its council meets Dec.19. It’s proposed budget had initially forecast a hike of 4.6 per cent.
Residents in the town of Cochrane may be looking at increase of 7.55 per cent in 2023. The town of Okotoks passed its budget which calls for a 4.5 per cent tax increase – more than double what was predicted last year.
The City of Wetaskiwin has also passed its budget with residents there facing a 5.7 per cent tax hike.
At the low end of the scale, Grande Prairie’s city council approved a 2023 tax increase of 1.71 per cent which was nearly half of the projected increase.
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Looks like Lethbridge is not that far out of line to other communities.
Each community has different variables but you are right.