Almost all St. Albertans paid their 2025 property taxes on time, in keeping with the city's averages over the last few years.
As of July 30, a month after the June 30 payment deadline, 94 per cent of St. Albertans have paid their 2025 property tax bills.
Stephen Bannerman, the city's senior manager of assessment and taxation, said this was typical for the city. By the end of the year, he anticipates they'll average out between 97 and 98 per cent.
"It's been pretty consistent for St. Albert over the last two decades," Bannerman said. "If we were to see something like a COVID year or something like that where we might see a spike in those types of figures, say if the compliance rate was down below 94 per cent at this time of year, we'd be looking at it and saying, 'Is there something in the economy or something in the surrounding community that's affected this rate?'"
The city also allowed residents to pay their taxes online with their credit card this year. Bannerman said the uptake on that was a little lower than the city had anticipated, with around 180 payments.
"I was surprised by how small that number [is]," he said. "But we're recovering the 2.1 per cent fee the credit card companies are charging for that ... that additional credit card fee is being covered by the City of St. Albert, so it wouldn't come at a cost for us."
Bannerman said providing online options is important for the city not only from a convenience, but also an environmental standpoint, and offering new options to pay is a good communication opportunity for the city.
"When we implemented e-billing, we were trying to encourage as many as many people as possible from an environmental and a convenience perspective. You can look at your tax assessment notice any time you want and get that information," he said.
If you're part of the six per cent of people who haven't yet paid their taxes, you're already staring down financial penalties. Residents receive a four per cent penalty on July 1 if they missed the June 30 deadline, followed by a six per cent penalty on Aug 1 and another six per cent penalty on Oct 1.
"We talk about the uptake from 94 to 97 or 98 per cent by the year end, and I think part of that is the influence of you realizing you're getting penalties. And we're certainly trying to work with all of our ratepayers to get them to pay on time," Bannerman said.
