The Bylaw approves a 4.13% total increase in residential and non-residential property taxes while keeping Coaldale’s non-residential tax rate among the most attractive in the region.
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During its May 22, 2024, Special Council Meeting, Coaldale Town Council passed a second and third reading of the Town’s 2024 Property Tax Bylaw.
While the Bylaw approves a 4.13% total increase in residential and non-residential property taxes, it does so on the basis of a 5.2% decrease in the residential mill rate and a 2.5% decrease in the non-residential mill rate. These decreases in the Town’s mill rates were approved to help offset increased costs associated with inflationary growth in both residential and non-residential property values.
“As a Council, our goal is to keep property taxes as affordable as possible to attract new residents and boost our commercial and industrial growth," said Town of Coaldale Mayor Jack Van Rijn. “So, when we learned about the substantial increase in property values and what that would mean for residential and non-residential tax bills, we decided to lower our residential and non-residential mill rates. This way, we’ll be able to provide our residents and business owners with at least some financial relief from the effects of high inflation, which is making everything less affordable – including owning property.”
For the average residential property in Coaldale, taxes will increase by $138 per year or $11.50 per month, with almost two-thirds of this increase coming from provincial requisitions (downloaded onto Town of Coaldale residents from the Government of Alberta) for education spending (approximately $82). On average, however, residents in the Town of Coaldale will pay 8% less in annual municipal property taxes than residents in the Town of Taber and 9% less than residents in the City of Lethbridge.
As for the business side of things, Coaldale’s non-residential tax rate will remain among the most attractive in the region, coming in at 29% lower than the Town of Taber’s and 54% lower than the City of Lethbridge’s.
According to Director of Growth and Investment, Cameron Mills, Council’s move to reduce the Town’s mill rates yet again points to its long-standing commitment to avoid unnecessary tax increases – even in the face of high inflation. “As the Town’s 2023 Comparative Analysis illustrates, Council’s resolve to steer clear of needless tax increases isn’t a one-off and actually reflects a larger trend that goes back to at least 2019”, explained Mills.
Published in December of last year, the Town of Coaldale’s 2023 Comparative Analysis is designed
not only to provide Town residents and business owners - both current and prospective - with a better understanding of Coaldale's financial and operational performance, but also, with a better understanding of how Coaldale's municipal operation stacks up against the municipal operations of eight other, similarly-sized and/or neighbouring municipalities (Blackfalds, Drumheller, Edson, Innisfail, Lethbridge, Lethbridge County, Ponoka, and Taber).
In keeping with the Town’s previous Comparative Analyses, the Town’s 2023 Analysis includes a number of positive findings, especially with regard to municipal taxation. “What we found is that over the last 4 years, residential and non-residential mill rates in almost all of Coaldale’s peer and neighbouring municipalities increased - and in some cases by over 10%”, said Mills. “But in Coaldale itself, the residential mill rate decreased by 5.29% while the non-residential mill rate decreased by 3.41%. What this effectively means is that with its comparatively low tax increases, the Town’s 2024 Property Tax Bylaw actually pushes Coaldale further down this competitive path, keeping it an attractive place to move to or grow a business in for the foreseeable future.”