Town council granted a first reading to Bylaw 1855/2022 establishing the 2022 property tax rates during the April 11 council meeting.
“By not raising municipal tax rates for two consecutive years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Town of Sylvan Lake must now ensure operations are sustainable for the future,” stated the agenda.
The 2022 budget was approved with an assumption that the market value of existing properties would be relatively unchanged from the previous year. It was also presumed that assessment growth, or new assessment added, would equal approximately $20 million.
New assessment added or growth for the 2022 taxation year was just over $28.4 million.
There has been an overall market value increase on existing properties by 1.7 per cent for the 2022 taxation year. The town considers this increase as additional municipal tax revenue of approximately $340,000.
For 2022, council approved a 3.82 per cent tax rate increase for both the core residential and non-residential tax rates.
Provincial education taxes have increased for the 2022 taxation year. The Corporate Services department said the total requisition to be paid by Sylvan Lake taxpayers this year is $6,959,624, which is an increase of $223,774 from last year.
The Administration is recommending any net additional tax revenue realized for the 2022 fiscal year be included in the operating budget for the year, especially with the town experiencing an overall deficit of $1.8 million in 2021.
The town will send out combined assessment and taxation notices at the end of May with a tax payment deadline of July 31, stated the agenda. This is a return to the pre-pandemic timelines.