Taxes near the top in province

St. Albert’s reputation as a high-tax place to live was reinforced in 2010 as the city jumped to second place among all cities in the province, according to data now available from Alberta Municipal Affairs.

In 2010 St. Albert moved from third to second-highest taxed, 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. Cold Lake was a close third at $722 followed by Camrose at $691.

Calgary is at the bottom of the list at $314, followed by Airdrie at $402, Fort Saskatchewan at $408 and Edmonton at $473.

In 2009 St. Albert ranked third with Grande Prairie and Cold Lake occupying the top two spots.

On the non-residential side, in 2010 St. Albert was ninth among Alberta’s 16 cities, with businesses paying $1,206 per $100,000 in assessed value. The highest was Wetaskiwin at $1,769 while the lowest was Spruce Grove at $344.

The counties of Sturgeon, Strathcona and Parkland are both considerably cheaper than St. Albert in both the residential and non-residential categories.

For Mayor Nolan Crouse, the data isn’t a surprise, but he stressed the situation isn’t easy to change because council is trying to walk a line between two common messages it gets from residents.

“We’re continually told a couple things, one of them is to be sensitive to spending and the other thing is that people expect high quality of service,” Crouse said.

Crouse said he’s readying to work with Grande Prairie Mayor Bill Given to discuss common issues the cities face.

Crouse noted that St. Albert offers some services that other cities don’t so it’s not always fair to compare.

“Cold Lake doesn’t have transit service and we do. Edmonton charges for parking and we don’t,” he said.

He also noted that the numbers defy the belief that St. Albert is the highest taxed city in the province. However, he acknowledged that this may be true if the criteria was total taxes paid, since St. Albert’s property values tend to run higher than other cities.

“We will continue to try to provide services that our residents want and charge accordingly,” he said. “If you don’t want to pay high taxes then you’re going to have to cut some services.”