St. Albert may have a reputation for being highly taxed, but the side of the equation that’s not often told is the value that residents get for their dollar.
That was the message that Mayor Nolan Crouse shared with members of the St. Albert Gazette’s editorial board last week. Crouse arranged the meeting in order to expound on an idea he’s been promoting for months, that St. Albert residents get good value for their property tax dollars.
His examples: a unique city hall, a good library, a performing arts theatre, well-maintained trees, a river valley with abundant trails.
All these cost money and Crouse isn’t interested in cutting services to bring taxes down.
“I think the role that I have as mayor is to provide the quality of life and the quality of service and people then are going to have to choose whether or not they can afford that,” he said.
In 2010 St. Albert jumped a spot to become the city with the second highest tax rate in Alberta, finishing only behind Grande Prairie. St. Albert residents paid $745 in municipal property taxes per $100,000 of assessed property value compared to $848 in Grande Prairie.
St. Albert is a community that provides premium services for a premium price, he said.
“I don’t foresee us having a per cent reduction in taxes because I don’t see us having a demand for fewer services,” he said.
Crouse doesn’t think that St. Albert’s property tax levels are a major deterrent that’s preventing people from moving here.
“People don’t pull out a spreadsheet and analyze taxes to determine where they’re going to live,” he said.
For some, like young adults just starting out or seniors on a fixed income, taxes could play a part in the decision to choose St. Albert, countered Coun. Malcolm Parker.
“It’s nice to say that you’re getting value for the money. It becomes a bit of an affordability issue,” he said.
“If you’re a younger person just starting out and your income level isn’t that high, then you can’t afford to buy a house and pay the taxes so you’ve got to go elsewhere.”
Many long-time St. Albert residents feel that service levels have declined over the years while taxes have climbed, said Lynda Flannery of the St. Albert Taxpayers’ Association.
Some don’t see value in some of the large projects the city has taken on, such as Servus Credit Union Place and Ray Gibbon Drive, she said. Many don’t feel that St. Albert offers substantially better services than Edmonton.
“I don’t think it justifies the difference in taxes that we pay,” she said.
Economic development
Economic development has long been touted as a way that St. Albert can ease the burden on residents while not sacrificing services. The current assessment split between residential and non-residential is 89-11, a long way from the 80-20 split that has been the city’s goal for years.
But Crouse doesn’t sound optimistic about the prospects of moving that ratio in the right direction. The land annexed from Sturgeon County was based on the need for more residential development, he said, and the city is fighting an ongoing battle with developers and landowners who only have residential in mind.
The city has to do its best to attract business and keep “as hard a line as it can” on keeping St. Albert Trail as commercial, he said but gaining ground may be too much to ask.
“You may never gain. You hope you can gain but maybe if you hold your line at 90-10, maybe you’re actually doing good,” Crouse said.
The city will issue tax notices at the end of the month with the payment deadline set at June 30.
