CANMORE – A refreshed look at how the Town of Canmore taxes properties is earmarked to take place in 2024.
The push to include $75,000 funding from general capital reserves for a new property tax task force was included in the 2023-24 budget, which will return to council for final approval Dec. 20.
Coun. Joanna McCallum, who brought up the task force several times during finance committee’s budget talks and was on the last task force with Mayor Sean Krausert in 2012, identified the change the community has seen since the last task force finished its work in 2013.
“It’s been 10 years and we’ve had explosive commercial growth and that sector continues to share that same piece of the pie,” she said at recent finance committee. “I don’t know what the findings of the task force would be, but I’m going to expect since our economic situation is much different than it was [in 2013] and our competitors and comparators are shifting as well, that it would be an important exercise to go through.”
The previous task force, which included members from the community, the development sector, council members and local business owners, was facilitated by a consultant over a series of meetings in 2012 and 2013 in which the philosophy used by the Town in taxation was examined.
The proposed new project will include updating and revising the 2013 tax policy as well as workshops held between the eventual consultant and task force members on tax policy framework.
The work will compare the status of property taxes in the town, while also comparing them to other municipalities, and lead to recommendations for council.
The task force is relatively open-ended in the sense it could bring back numerous recommendations for council consideration on rate ratios, tax share by class and rates per assessed value.
Therese Rogers, the Town’s general manager of corporate services, said any potential recommendations could have a greater reaching impact on Town financial documents and policy, so a long-term understanding of any possible change would also need to be understood.
“I think there’s an opportunity to revisit the work that we did in understanding our commercial tax base and what that looks like now, understanding our residential tax base, understanding the impacts of tourist homes and classifications,” she said.
The work would also review legislation on what a municipality can and can’t do, looking at property class types and understanding the tax requirements in the province.
“With ever-increasing assessment levels in the Town of Canmore, a review of the work completed in 2013 around the Town’s tax policy framework would be required to determine if any changes or updates are recommended,” the project rationale states in the budget agenda.
One of the most notable changes in the community is the growth of second homeownership, which has also been a polarizing issue in town as many people struggle to find affordable housing.
Earlier in 2022, council voted to increase the property tax rate for tourist homes used for commercial purposes to align with the non-residential mill rate.
When the decision was made in April, there were 607 tourist homes in Canmore, but 108 were declared for personal use, which allowed them to be taxed at a residential rate. The declaration can be made once a year by the homeowners.
Under the tax rates at the time, residential was set at 2.278 per cent, tourist homes 6.607 and non-residential at 7.018. When the tourist tax change was adjusted, it meant the residential rate was lowered to 2.261 and tourist homes increased to 7.018.
It led to a slight dip in property taxes for residential homes, with a home assessed at $800,000 having property taxes go from $1,823 to $1,809. The commercial tourist home assessed at $534,000 would see its property taxes go from $3,528 to $3,728.
Coun. Wade Graham discussed potentially having the task force take place sooner, but due to staff shortages felt by the Town and ongoing projects, 2024 was set aside as the best year to begin the work.
“This is an important project and a conversation we need to have sooner than later,” he said.
