Town of Bonnyville property owners could see a slight increase on their taxes this year.
Town council unanimously passed a two per cent municipal tax rate increase for 2018 during their April 24 meeting.
“Based on the budget that was just passed, that includes a two per cent tax dollar increase. The residential mill rate has increased overall by .81789 mills, that’s due to a decrease in assessments. Commercial has increased by 1.81859 mills also due to a decrease in assessments,” detailed Renee Stoyles, director of administration and finance.
Residential taxable assessments went down by 7.83 per cent this year, and non-residential by 11.54 per cent. As a result, to compensate for the reduction, the municipal mill rate needed to be raised by 10.89 per cent for residential properties and 15.02 per cent for non-residential.
The amount the town needs to collect for the school requisition decreased by close to $180,000 (or 4.9 per cent over 2017). However, due to the reduced assessments again, the mill rate for school taxes also needed to be increased by 6.53 per cent for residential and 3.46 per cent for non-residential.
Similarly, for the Lakeland Lodge and Housing requisition and the C2, the mill rates for both residential and non-residential properties went up to offset the dip in assessments. For 2018, the C2 mill rate sits around 0.18 mills for residential, compared to 0.169 mills last year.
What residents will see on their taxes for 2018, combining the four areas, is a full mill rate of 9.45. That equates to a 9.47 per cent increase over 2017.
“When you look at the full mill rate, with all of the school tax, the seniors requisition, and the C2 mill rate, we’re probably averaging an increase from 2017 to 2018 of about $50 to $60. The average homeowner is going to see that impact,” said Mayor Gene Sobolewski.
As an example, under the municipal mill rate, a property with an assessed value of about $334,000 for 2018 will be paying $2,118 in municipal taxes. Last year, that same property had an assessment of $361,000 and the municipal taxes were $2,064.
That property will also be paying $947 for the school requisition (a decrease of about $14 from 2017), and $30 for the seniors requisition (on-par with last year). Likewise, homeowners will notice little difference in the C2 portion of their taxes, with the average property paying around the same amount as they did last year. For this particular property, the C2 mill rate makes up about $60 of their total tax bill.
Overall, the full mill rate on this property equates to $3,158 in taxes - $40 more than 2017. However, each residential property could see more or less of a change, depending on its 2018 assessment.
“Everybody’s assessment, overall, went down. It’s just that the ones that went down more are going to see a slight reduction in taxes, and the ones that went down less are going to see a slight increase,” explained CAO Mark Power. “But, overall, the average is a two per cent municipal tax increase.”
For commercial properties in town, the full mill rate rose by 11.28 per cent to around 14.29 mills for 2018.
A property valued at $2.2-million will be paying approximately $32,000 in taxes this year, while a property assessed around $550,000 will see about $7,900 for their taxes. Of that, $21,800 and $5,300, respectively, is for the municipal portion of their taxes.
Under the new Municipal Government Act (MGA), linear and designated industrial properties will also see a new tax this year that’s collected by the town and passed on to the province.
“For linear and designated industrial properties, there is a new rate from the province because there is a requisition that has to be paid now. That is a .034178 (mill rate). It’s a $431 requisition from the province and that goes on to the tax payer,” explained Stoyles, noting it affects approximately a dozen properties in town.
Overall, the town will be collecting around $7.8-million in general municipal taxes, revenue which is included in the annual operating budget.
