Sundre taxpayers will see an increase on their annual tax bills this month.
Town of Sundre officials approved a tax increase of an average 3.7 per cent, equal to an average of $70 per year.
Council passed second and third reading of the new tax rate bylaw during the May 6 meeting.
After council passed first reading of the bylaw during the April 15 meeting, town officials received zero concerns from Sundre taxpayers.
The total 2013 budget for municipal expenditures and transfers, including the operating budget, the capital budget and grants, is $12,768,331.
Sundre property owners are now on the hook for $2,637,883 of that, which includes requisitions for the provincial education tax and local seniors' housing.
This required an increase in tax rates compared to last year.
In January, the operating budget was approved at $7,792,467 and council approved an increase of $12,417 to the budget, during the April 15 meeting. The new operating budget is $7,959,139.
“This increase results in part from an increase in the provincial school requisition that the town collects on behalf of the province,” said Wanda Watson-Neufeld, the town's director of corporate services, in a news release.
“Further, the town's overall assessment value has decreased slightly and it is council's mandate to drop the vacant commercial mill rate each year until it matches the commercial mill rate,” she explained.
Also, town officials plan on focusing more on planning and development and economic development, in an effort to increase the town's tax base.
A new position opening in the economic development department is partially responsible for the increase.
This will hopefully increase total assessments and potentially lower taxes in the future, she said.
“Residential assessments have gone down, whereas commercial assessments have gone up,” she said.
“Let's say you had a house worth $100,000 last year in 2012, it may be worth $100,000 or it may be worth less, so your tax rate is based on that.”
Town officials plan on completing several capital projects this year, including the installation of gas and water automatic meter reading equipment and the installation of water and wastewater lines on the east side of town.
Other projects include servicing the 5th Avenue industrial park, replacing the wastewater line between Bearberry Creek and Greenwood campground and replacing the north stairs on the river trail, she said.
There are also various critical plans which town officials plan to complete this year, including the Master Recreation Plan, the Municipal Development Plan, the Master Infrastructure Study, the Wastewater Treatment Study and a Corridor Revitalization Study.
