Lacombe City Council has approved property tax bylaw 496 and paving tax bylaw 491.
Bylaw 496 sets the annual tax rate at 2.7 per cent, with an additional 1 per cent tax, which will go directly to fund pavement rehabilitation in the City of Lacombe.
Bylaw 496 meets the requirements of the Municipal Government Act and adheres to council’s previous direction to raise the city’s annual tax revenue by 2.7 per cent which is considerably below the Alberta inflation.
The general municipal residential mill rate in 2022 is 8.3965 per $1,000 of assessment, and the general municipal non-residential rate is 9.6486 per $1,000.
Bylaw 491 is a special paving tax to raise designated funding for investment in city roads. The special paving tax, equal to 1 per cent of the property tax, will go directly to fund pavement rehabilitation on 50 Avenue.
The implementation of the special paving tax comes after council received a presentation in May of 2021 demonstrating a projected roadway maintenance deficit of $4.3 million over the next 10 years (in 2021 dollars). Council endorsed the preparation of the tax to reduce this deficit.
“The passing of these bylaws ensures the City of Lacombe operates in a fiscally-responsible manner,” Mayor Grant Creasey said. “The 2.7 tax increase falls under council’s goal to keep increases below inflation, and the addition of the 1 per cent special paving tax is a clear, transparent and ongoing process to ensure our roads meet the standards our citizens expect.”
In total, both bylaws will levy approximately $21.2 million in property taxes to meet the revenue requirements in 2022. An additional $150,000 will be levied through the special paving tax.
In addition to levying municipal property taxes, bylaw 496 also establishes levies on behalf of the Lacombe Foundation, the Alberta School Foundation Fund (ASFF) and the St. Thomas Aquinas RCS Regional Division No.38.
The education tax amount for 2022 is based on the information provided by Alberta Education on March 7. The mill rate proposed for education is 2.5686 per $1,000 (2021 - 2.569) of assessment for residential and 3.7261 per $1,000 (2020 - 3.76) of assessment for non-residential (145 per cent of residential).
The two bylaws will generate a combined $21.25 million in tax revenue, split approximately 75 per cent/25 per cent for the municipality and the province.