Penhold council is lowering municipal taxes to help its residents through today's tough economic times.
At council's regular meeting on April 25, the annual tax bylaw was passed and all municipal tax rates are decreasing for the new fiscal year, with residential taxes seeing the biggest change.
“This council recognizes that Central Albertans are going through a challenging time,” said Penhold mayor Dennis Cooper. “What we strove to do this year is something unique for municipalities – we said, ‘let's keep taxes the same as last year or slightly lower.'”
As an example, the mayor pointed out what the impact is for Penhold councillors' property tax rates.
“Six of the councillors were getting an average of anywhere from a 40- to 60-dollar decrease in their taxes,” he said. “We used all of our own houses as an example, and looked at our tax bill from the previous year versus this year and everybody's (taxes) is going to slightly drop.”
While many municipalities freeze the mill rate and don't increase taxes, Cooper explained Penhold is lowering the mill rate so the town is able to keep taxes the same or slightly lower than the previous year.
“We're trying to recognize the challenges our citizens are having and recognize the tough economic times (in) Central Alberta,” said Cooper.
The estimated decrease is .25 per cent of a mill rate. The residential rate will drop to 9.0 this year from last year's 9.245, reflecting a 3.5 per cent decrease in residents' taxes, noted Cooper.
Tricia Willis, the town's chief financial officer who presented the information to council, said she wanted to ensure local taxes were set “responsibly” based on the conditions of the current economic climate.
“We were able to decrease the residential mill rate and the residential school rates to accommodate that while still maintaining our level of service,” said Willis.
The 2016 school requisition from the province came in with a nine per cent increase over last year and was accounted for in this year's budget, council was told. Members also heard the non-residential school tax rate came in higher than expected, resulting in a 35 per cent increase.
“On the residential side, the mill rate for school alone is 2.13 and if you are non-residential it's 3.66, which will be a jump (for them),” said Willis, noting last year's rate was 2.711.
In addition, the municipal tax rate decreased for non-residential properties including industrial and commercial.
“They were 12.019 and some vacant (properties) were 12.99. They were all lowered to 12.0,” she added.
Cooper said whether taxes will increase or decrease next year hinges on a number of factors, including grants the town receives from the province and whether Penhold experiences an economic boom.
“It also depends on growth. Our growth has definitely slowed like a lot of other municipalities,” said Cooper. “We benefited from that growth spurt so now when that growth slows down you should also reflect that in your spending. We have to remember there's always a cost to grow and to build infrastructure,” Cooper concluded.
Mayor Dennis Cooper
"This council recognizes that Central Albertans are going through a challenging time. What we strove to do this year is something unique for municipalities – we said, 'let's keep taxes the same as last year or slightly lower.'"
