City Hall (file photo/paNOW)

By Susan McNeil

Taxes

New $40 base tax fairer, says council

Mar 29, 2022 | 9:22 AM

Using a base tax of $40 that every property must pay rather than relying entirely on a percentage is fairer, said Mayor Greg Dionne.

Council has now passed first and second readings of multiple bylaws regarding the 2022 tax collection and has set a special meeting for Tuesday for third reading.

Dionne said he sympathizes with property owners that might have difficulty with the extra costs but added that everyone benefits from services such as police and fire.

“For police and fire, if you had to pay that alone on your tax bill, would be $1800,” he said.

The idea of a new base tax of $40 per residence didn’t sit well with all of council and both Tara Lennox-Zepp and Charlene Miller spoke against it.

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Miller said she would prefer to see a six per cent increase in assessment value and rely only on the mill rate to determine taxes. Mill rates are a percentage and part of the 2022 tax plan includes a 1.8 per cent increase in that as well.

Dionne said that people need to keep in mind that higher assessed properties pay much more in actual dollars.

“People will say well the high-end people are getting a little bit of a break. Yeah? Well, you pay $1,000 in taxes and they pay $8,000,” he said.

Some levies created in previous years will remain the same in value but were changed in nature to be special taxes.

This essentially means the tax must be used for the intended purpose. The snow and infrastructure levy will also have the infrastructure component removed.

Dionne said that council was very careful to leave the commercial rates the same this year after multiple businesses got large increases last year following a reassessment.

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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @princealbertNOW