Town may hold line on taxes

Jan 12, 2007 03:01:02

By Dave Husdal and Tanya Foubert Wednesday November 29, 2006 Growth won’t prevent education tax hikes. For the first time in memory, Canmore property owners may see no municipal tax increase in 2007, but their overall tax bills will rise because the provincial government is expected to suck more education taxes out of the community. The Town of Canmore’s proposed 2007 operating budget presented Tuesday evening to council contemplates a zero per cent hike in the municipal portion of bills. Unfortunately, the town is predicting a hike of about 3.6 per cent in overall residential bills, based on about a 7.5 per cent hike in residential school tax rates and a 3.6 per cent hike in the non-residential school tax rates. “This is definitely one of the biggest challenges this year,” senior manager of finance Rod de Leeuw told council, adding that the town only experienced a 4.4 per cent increase in real growth in comparison. He said that unless growth ramps up the province will continue annually to take the maximum rate the school tax is capped at until Canmore properties are no longer considered underassessed compared to other properties in other municipalities. Those figures could increase even more, said de Leeuw, if the government goes outside its existing policy and increases Canmore’s total school tax requisition by more than the 12 per cent cap. Under the proposed budget, the total tax bill for a home assessed at about $495,000 last year will increase to $2,834 from $2,736. De Leeuw said the numbers used are based on averages. “If your house goes up (in assessed value) by more than average you are going to see your tax bill go up by more than the average,” he said. De Leeuw said that one of the issues in the operating budget was the amount of money planned to go into reserves without a municipal tax hike. The operating budget, he said, was calculated on a zero per cent increase and included growth in the assessment base “to ensure that senior administration would go through the process and use the tightest belt possible.” However, de Leeuw said, “because of the educational contribution we are still not able to get our reserves to where we want them.” Council may also opt to hike municipal taxes regardless in an effort to pour more cash into reserves for future project spending. “I think we need to increase these numbers one way or another,” Mayor Ron Casey said about the contributions to reserves. “What we have right now is a zero per cent increase on the municipal side. Is that realistic to have a zero per cent increase? That’s how you get to be the City of Calgary with huge infrastructure messes.” Casey said he would like to see administration bring forward more information before making that kind of decision. The proposed budget would increase the number of full-time equivalent town employees by almost 12, and bump spending significantly in a few key areas. Council heard from de Leeuw that an increase for a salary survey and performance pay, proposed new positions and increase to the Town’s benefits would cost an estimated $804,377 in 2007 and $907,448 in 2008, a nine per cent raise both years. He explained that the Town of Canmore is below average for other municipalities in the area, including Banff, for its benefits program. Canmore saw significant growth in 2006 with $120 million in new residential property, $15 million in new tourist homes and $40 million in new non-residential property raising an additional $801,572 in taxes for 2006. Coun. André Gareau expressed concern over the grant revenue the town loses per capita on second homeowners. Every year, said de Leeuw, the town estimates that for the 4,800 non-permanent residents the town loses $1.3 million to $1.5 million in revenues. He said the town is looking into ways that it can make up for that loss adding that one third of the entire population uses infrastructure and that the provincial government does not grant the town money for. Council adjourned before covering any topics of its 2007 and 2008 capital budget. That will be presented on Dec. 12 at 5 p.m. after the morning meeting of the committee of the whole. While it didn’t get to the capital budget, council voted to increase funding to the Canmore Museum and Science Centre from $45,000 in 2006 to $90,000 in 2007. As well, it voted to remove from the proposed 2008 budget $180,000 in expenditures associated with giving the town a new logo and visual identity. Next Tuesday’s regular council meeting will be followed by more questions and presentations around the operating budget including breakdowns of additional requests for funding. From Camrose Leader