The total assessment, or market value, of property located in the Town of Canmore has reached $6.9 billion, up from $6.6 billion last year.
The market assessment is done as of June 30, 2016 for tax purposes and is a key factor in determining how much everyone who owns property in Canmore pays in taxes each year.
With the total assessment at $6.9 billion, manager of financial services Katherine Van Keimpema explained during a recent finance committee meeting that new growth represented $84.9 million in 2016 and the increase in assessed value overall from 2015 was $174.6 million. Together it represents the total change in property values, an increase of $259.5 million, from the assessment the prior year.
On average, Van Keimpema said property values increased 2.1 per cent for the assessments, but that only reflects the assessed value as per the property tax assessment and does not reflect current market resale values of a property.
Of the total assessment, residential properties represented 82 per cent of the value ($5.3 billion) and non-residential represented 18 per cent of the total value ($845 million). There are other classifications like tourist home, vacant land, linear assessments (powerlines, for example), machinery and equipment. There is also $489 million in property that is exempt from tax assessment.
Another factor that determines property tax values, said Van Keimpema, is the total revenue needed by the municipal government, Bow Valley Seniors requisition, a contribution toward perpetually affordable housing and the provincial education taxes.
For 2017 preliminary tax rates, the municipality is taking $21.3 million, the PAH contribution of $720,000, the seniors requisition amount of $753,558, and the provincial education requisition of $16.9 million, which is up $1.6 million or 10.6 per cent from the year before.
Other factors influencing how much tax an individual property owner would pay includes the classification of property, as either residential or commercial for example, and the residential and commercial tax split. Preliminary rates being considered by the municipality have a split of 65 residential to 35 non-residential – which means all residential properties are responsible for paying 65 per cent of the total tax requisition while all commercial properties cover the other 35 per cent.
“Once we figure out how much goes to residential and how much goes to non-residential, then the split is between the different classifications,” Van Keimpema said.
Changes to the Municipal Government Act recently limited the ratio of non-residential to taxes to residential taxes to a 5:1 ration. The proposed tax rates for 2017 have a ratio of 3:47 to 1 – according to Van Keimpema’s presentation to council.
What does that mean for a property owner? For every $100,000 in assessed value a residential property can expect to see an increase of $7. For the average residential property in Canmore, that is an annual increase of $47.
For non-residential, the preliminary tax rates result in an increase of $46 for every $100,000 in assessed value, or $220 increase annually for the average property.
Van Kiempema noted that individual tax bills will vary from the average depending on specific factors like assessed value and property type.
Another way to look at the tax split in the community is to calculate the residential tax per dwelling unit in the community. That works out to $1,645 for Canmore and $1,513 when compared to an average calculated using similar communities to Canmore in Western Canada.
