Lacombe County will raise the residential tax rate by two per cent this year.
Tax rates for farmland will go up 3.5 per cent and the non-residential rate will go up 4.5 per cent.
“Lacombe County council voted to approve a budget for 2019 that recognizes the challenges and uncertainty that Alberta has faced over the past few years,” says Reeve Paula Law in a statement.
“Maintaining the services our ratepayers expect is crucial, but we have consciously focused on reduced spending and smarter spending, which will be the path we will continue down for the foreseeable future.”
Since municipalities do not yet know how much the province wants collected as its portion of the property tax bill, the county is using the 2018 rate. The provincial portion represents about half of residents’ tax bills.
Based on the new rates, 2019 property taxes on a $400,000 residence in Lacombe County will be $2,038, which is an increase of $32 from 2018.
Residential property owners who experienced a decrease in the market value of their properties of greater than 1.59 per cent will see a reduction in their property taxes.
Property taxes are due Aug. 31.
Lacombe County has passed $60.5-million operating and $20-million capital budgets.