Sylvan Lake residents can expect a slight decrease on the taxes projected in the 2018 Budget.
Sylvan Lake Town Council approved the first reading of the 2018 Tax Rate Bylaw. This bylaw has the municipal tax rates for residential and non-residential increase at 1.87 per cent.
While, still an increase from last year, Council had originally budgeted for a tax increase of 1.97 per cent.
“I appreciate the work that has been done to give our residents a slight decrease in taxes from what we budgeted,” said Mayor Sean McIntyre.
The 2018 residential tax rate is proposed within the bylaw at 8.911, this is up from 8.742 in 2017. Non-residential, or commercial, tax rate will increase to 14.607, up from 14.359 in 2017, in the bylaw is carried.
The change in the 2018 taxes is based on the assessment growth for 2018.
At budget time, Council had anticipated an assessment growth of $40 million. The final assessment growth for the years was approximately $45 million.
“Change in assessment values vary by neighbourhood so the tax impact varies accordingly,” said Darren Moore, director of finance for the Town.
The budget for Sylvan Lake in 2018 is $34,500,967 , with just over $16 million expected from general municipal taxation.
“Town of Sylvan Lake property owners will pay more to fund education in 2018,” said Moore.
The education tax is decided by the Province in their budget, residents in Sylvan Lake will collectively be increased 3.6 per cent.
The 2018 provincial school tax requisition is $6,599,171 up from $6,367,574 in 2017. This is an increase of $231,597 or 3.6 per cent, according to the bylaw presentation at the April 9 meeting of Council.
The supplementary tax, which also passed it’s first reading at Monday night’s meeting, is expected to bring in $40,000 net municipal taxes in 2018.
A supplementary tax allows a municipality to collect property taxes on improvements completed or substantially completed during the current year, rather than waiting until the next year.
“If a supplementary tax bylaw was not in place, the municipality would have to wait until the following year, 2019, to ‘pick up’ that assessment and tax it.
“The supplementary tax marginally reduces tax pressure on residents,” Moore said.
A second and third reading of the tax bylaw, and the supplementary tax bylaw, are expected at the next meeting of Council on April 23.
megan.roth@sylvanlakenews.com
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