County residents may pay about one per cent less than expected on their tax bills this year due to some unexpected growth, council has heard, and at least one councillor wants to see those bills cut even more.
County council voted 5-2 in favour of first reading of its new 2013 taxation rates at a special meeting held Tuesday. Mayor Don Rigney and Coun. Don McGeachy were opposed.
The meeting was called in the wake of last April 23rd’s meeting where council voted 3-2 against first reading for a previous version of the tax rate bylaw.
An unexpected jump in inflation and non-residential growth plus a smaller-than-expected hike in provincial school taxes has left the county with $421,226 more than expected, reported Rick Wojtkiw of the county’s corporate services department.
In response to comments from council on April 23, administration has rejigged its numbers to reduce the proposed residential tax hike to 4.68 per cent – down from the 5.89 proposed in the budget. Non-residential rates would still rise by 5.89 per cent.
Administration had suggested in a separate motion that council put the extra $421,226 collected into various community projects. If council instead used it to further cut residential taxes, Wojtkiw said, the residential rate would rise by just 0.5 per cent.
Coun. David Kluthe seemed to favour that idea, saying that this was extra cash the county didn’t need to meet its budget. “I can’t support this (bylaw) unless we put it back to the taxpayers.”
But an extra $400,000 a year would do a lot to make up for the multimillion-dollar shortfall in the county’s capital fund, said county commissioner Peter Tarnawsky, which council heard included bridge and road repairs. “This could be an important stepping stone to improving the county’s fiscal capacity.”
The county had already allocated about $165,000 of its $300,000 contingency fund for projects such as the Alcomdale water study, Wojtkiw said, and would have to replace that money come tax time next year.
Shaw questioned what state the county would be in if it did not use this extra cash to fix its roads and bridges. “We keep taking food out of the fridge. We’ve got to put it back in.”
Rigney opposed first reading, saying, as he had done in many years before, that the county’s spending vastly outpaced its population growth. “What we’re doing isn’t sustainable.”
Tarnawsky noted that not passing first reading this week would necessitate holding three readings on May 14 if the county was to get its tax notices out on time. Any delays would affect the ability of communities such as Redwater and St. Albert to collect taxes on lands annexed from the county.
The tax rates come back for second reading on May 14. Council must pass the rates that meeting if it is to get its tax notices out by May 27 as scheduled.
