CANMORE – Canmore council voted this week to officially approve the residential and commercial municipal property tax rates at the same level as 2019.
In May, elected officials cut $1.2 million from its 2020 capital budget in order to reduce the municipal tax requisition to the same level as last year's and help mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 economic downturn.
Manager of financial services Chelsey Richardson presented the bylaw, as well as the supplementary tax and tax penalty bylaws to council Tuesday (June 9).
"It is all very complex and we try to explain it in a way that is understandable, but there are so many factors that go into one individual property's taxes," Richardson said.
Canmore property taxes this year are comprised of the municipal tax requisition of $24.2 million, funding for perpetually affordable housing of $700,000, a seniors housing requisition of $917,274, the provincial education tax of $20.8 million and a designated industrial property tax of $3,813.
Richardson said while the province kept its tax levy at the same rate as 2019, Canmore's equalized assessment and the under-collection of taxes last year due to the provincial budget being tabled in the fall, means property owners can expect to see that amount increase.
"While the province held the overall collection at 2019 level, our equalized assessment increased more than the rest of the province, so we get allocated more of that collection," she said.
Assessments are calculated based upon the value of property as of July 1 the prior year, meaning this year's assessments reflects property values from a year ago.
In total, the property in Canmore is assessed at $7.97 billion, an increase of $640 million, or six per cent, from the year before. That total is broken down even further, with $138 million of the increase representing new growth in the community and $502 million the total increase in value for existing properties from the year before.
"When it comes to applying this information to the tax amount, the first step is to find the desired split between residential and non-residential," Richardson said, adding administration recommends Canmore maintain the 65/35 split from previous years.
That means 65 per cent of the total taxes needed this year would be assessed to residential properties, while 35 per cent would be collected from commercial properties.
The provincial government has mandated that the ratio used to split taxes for municipalities be no greater than 5:1 and Canmore's was set at 3.07:1 with the approval of the bylaw.
Richardson said tax bills for specific properties will vary depending upon the change in assessment. For example, a residential property assessed at $685,000 that saw no increase in value from 2019 would see its municipal tax bill decrease to $1,541 from $1,566.
A five per cent increase in assessment would see a residential property's municipal tax bill decrease to $1,618 from $1,655. Properties that saw greater assessment increases will see their bills increase, despite the fact council set a zero per cent increase for 2020 municipal tax rates.
Mayor John Borrowman reiterated that half the total tax bill is made up of the provincial requisition, which is not set by council, but is collected by the municipality.
"That is outside the Town's control," he said.
The supplementary bylaw sets out that new properties completed before Oct. 1 are also subject to paying property taxes this year. The penalty bylaw was changed to reflect the province's announcement that should commercial ratepayers be late this year in paying, they are not assessed a penalty.
Richardson recommended to council that Canmore apply the same standard to residential properties as well. Property owners will have until Sept. 30 to pay their 2020 tax bills without penalties, or they can sign up to the municipality's tax instalment monthly payment plan.
"This budget was a tough one," said Coun. Joanna McCallum. "We have no idea what 2021 will look like, but the work done by administration and council is reflected in this bylaw.
"But there are services we had to give up this year to be able to bring that number down to 2019 levels and I don't think perhaps the community is aware of what that will mean particularly this summer."
McCallum said budget cuts for 2020 included removal of programs most residents are used to seeing, like flower barrels along Main Street, but are not essential services at this time.
