Canmore’s property taxes are set to increase in 2016 by five per cent, but how much that works out to on an individual tax bill depends on the size and assessed value of a property.
Manager of financial services Katherine Van Keimpema presented the tax rates to council at its first regular business meeting in May.
Property taxes are made up of two separate rates – municipal property taxes levied by the Town of Canmore and the education requisition, set by the provincial government and also collected by the municipality.
Each represents half of the total tax change property owners of various classes can expect to see in the mail in the next few weeks. Both tax rates – provincial and municipal – are increasing by five per cent each. As a result, ratepayers in the community can expect their property taxes overall to increase by five per cent.
With council and administration only responsible for setting municipal tax rates, Van Keimpema briefed council on how much they would be responsible for collecting from property owners in 2016.
She said in December council approved its operational budget and out of that comes how much money in taxes are required, as well as the perpetually affordable housing levy, which is $800,000.
“The work we are doing today is taking that number ($20.96 million) and dividing it by the total taxable assessment,” said Van Keimpema, while explaining how millrates are calculated.
The total taxable assessment for Canmore in 2016 is up from the prior year. Residential taxable assessments this year are $5.3 billion – up from $5 billion last year. Non-residential assessment is $871 million – up from $830 million the year before.
Van Keimpema said the increased assessment includes $76 million in new growth from recently developed properties as well.
The amount of municipal taxes the Town must increase taxes by to meet budget requirements is $1 million, or five per cent. That five per cent increase in municipal taxes represents a 2.5 per cent increase in the overall tax bill.
So, while Canmore is raising $20.96 million in property taxes this year, the province is collecting $15.3 million.
That includes an increase to the education requisition of $698,000 – a five per cent increase. Most of that increase is due to education tax rates set by the province, however, $63,000 was under collected last year and is being levied this year.
Van Keimpema also went through how property tax task force recommendations that shape how the split between residential and non-residential rates are set.
Canmore’s tax policy requires that “indicators of tax rate ratios and residential taxes per capita in neighbouring and comparator municipalities will be monitored on an ongoing basis, with an intention to target a residential/non-residential tax share split in line with the average of these findings.”
Van Keimpema said the averages this year are in line with the 65/35 residential/non-residential split used in 2015 and it will be maintained.
