INNISFAIL -- With the recent provincial election creating bureaucratic delays, including of the passage of the 2019 provincial budget until the fall, municipalities across Alberta, including Innisfail, are left to deal with their property tax bylaws without this year's Education Property Tax requisition.
Innisfail town council will be asked by administration on May 13 to deal with the 2019 Mill Rate Bylaw, which is the typical time of every year it does so. However, this year administration and council will not have the 2019 school tax component. Council and administration, like scores of others across the province, are being asked to figure out their own school tax collection solution for the rest of 2019 until the provincial budget is tabled this fall.
"The town is left in the position to be the face of the education tax collection. We are required to collect this tax but it is not our tax. It is the education tax. We are the face of that collection," said Todd Becker, the town's chief administrative officer, adding he has not encountered a situation like this in his 22 years of working for municipal governments in Alberta.
Becker said the town will continue to be invoiced by the province for the education tax even if the town does not know what the final bill will be. He said at this point the town has no idea what to charge taxpayers for education taxes on behalf of the province.
"We don't know if it will be the same as last year or going up. Typically it doesn't go down," he said. "Municipalities, the town in this case, is required to come up with a plan to anticipate as much tax collection as possible for the province within our mill rate bylaw."
He said if the town over-collects taxes from citizens and businesses then it will face a "positive readjustment" for 2020, but if the town under-collects now, that will mean an additional charge burden to taxpayers on next year's mill rate bylaw.
In other words, it could get a little messy for the town accounting-wise.
"It is pretty disappointing that during an election that they (province) can't continue to operate as a functional government through an election period transition," said Mayor Jim Romane. "They are just saying they want us to just go ahead and collect and use the same formula we did in 2018, and they (province) will get the budget done in the fall.
"If there is a shortfall or whatever we will have to make it up, and then we are allowed to make it up in next year's requisition," added the mayor.
As for being stuck to collect a tax that has nothing to do with the town's direct affairs, Romane noted the process has been around "forever" and should be changed.
"We shouldn't be the ones collecting the taxes for the (provincial) government anyways. I would love to see that happen, getting the education portion out of municipalities' hair because it has nothing to do with us," said Romane. "All we are doing is collecting the tax for them. Here we are now with them wanting us to submit some money, telling us it is maybe not enough and ask for more in the fall."
In the meantime, Romane said it would be a good idea for council to instruct administration to create a communication strategy to alert local property taxpayers what is happening with the provincial school tax.
"They (province) are suggesting stay with the 2018 rate and it shouldn't be too bad. We are not going to go back to the property owners in the fall and say we want more money," said Romane. "It is just that they are going to get hit with more money in 2020. That is when it is going to come to light."
