The average residential tax bill in Red Deer will go up by 73 cents per month this year — despite city council’s best intentions.
Council lived up to its promise of delivering a zero per cent tax increase on the municipal component of the bill, which it controls.
But 27 per cent of the annual tax bill is made up of the province’s education requisition, which went up this year by nearly half a percent, so a small increase will be reflected on city tax bills after all, said the city’s revenue and assessment services manager Joanne Parkin.
Based on the zero per cent municipal increase in the operating budget and the provincial requisitions, city tax payers will see increase of .27 per cent for each residential and non-residential property.
For a $325,000 home this is will mean an increase of 73 cents per month, due to the education portion of the tax bill, said Parkin.
She added the multi-family subclass of residential taxes will see an increase of 2.37 per cent to reflect a ratio of 1.03 — in keeping with Council resolution to move to a ratio of 1.15 over five years to make up for a previous imbalance.
Coun. Ken Johnston noted that the city still has one of the lowest business taxes in the province, “which is a major competitive advantage.”
In 2021, the City of Red Deer must collect $138.7 million in taxes to make up the municipal budget needs for such services as policing, roads, emergency services and recreation.
Red Deer city council, however, did lower the penalty for filing late taxes for the next three years on Monday.
In recognition of the economic hardship caused by the pandemic on top of a recession, city council determined there will be a seven to 10 per cent penalty this year, instead of the usual 14 per cent, if taxes are paid in arrears, and a 10 per cent fine will be levied for this in 2022.
The tax penalty will increase to 12 per cent in 2023, and will return to 14 per cent in 2024.
lmichelin@reddeeradvocate.com
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