On Monday, May 2, Council adopted the 2022 Property Tax 07.22, formerly known as the Mill Rate Bylaw, as proposed by Town Administration.
“This Council continues to work closely with Administration to keep our taxes low for our community,” shares Mayor Colberg. “Drumheller’s mill rate is below the provincial average, and we will continue to work toward finding more efficiencies along the way.”
The mill rate is the amount of tax payable per dollar of the assessed value of a property.
The mill rate is based on ‘mills’; each mill is one-thousandth of a currency unit, and one mill is equivalent to one-tenth of a cent, or $0.001.
Property tax in dollar terms is calculated by multiplying the assessed property value and the mill rate and dividing this number by 1,000.
As a property may be subject to tax by a number of different authorities, mill rates are set by each taxing authority so as to meet the revenue projections in their budgets.
“Property assessment refers to a reasonable market value of a property,” explains Drumheller Chief Administrative Officer (CAO), Darryl Drohomerski. “All properties are reassessed yearly on a wide-scale appraisal system. Property owners cannot appeal their taxes but can appeal the assessed value of their properties. The process to appeal is available on our website, and an information brochure will be mailed out in May with the tax notice.”
The 2022 residential mill rate has increased to 12.10984 from 11.85663 (2021). The non-residential mill rate has increased to 19.15279 from 18.73769. The 2022 Operating Budget detailed a 2.1 per cent increase in the municipal property tax requisition.
Tax notices will be mailed in late May with the deadline to pay with no penalty.
Councillor Tony Lacher added, “The operating budget took a lot of work this year in order to find additional cost savings and minimize the impact to all residents. A 2.1 per cent increase on a $250,000 home is about $51.00 per year. This is nominal, and if we were to look over the last seven years, the annualized rate is less than a 1.5 per cent increase per year. The report in the Council agenda package is very detailed and we encourage residents who wish to learn more about how taxes are calculated to review it–it’s very helpful to understand how requisition works.”
A residential property assessed at $212,770 will see a tax bill increase from $2,165 in 2021 to $2,188 in 2022; an increase of $23 per year, or $1.91 per month.
A commercial property assessed at $467,070 will see a tax bill increase from $7,967 in 2021, to $8,946 in 2022; an increase of $979 per year, or $81.53 per month.
Other property tax requisitions included on a tax bill include the Alberta School Foundation and Drumheller and District Senior’s Foundation along with others.
In 2022, the Alberta School Foundation requisition increased by some $35,000 while the Drumheller and District Senior’s Foundation requisition decreased by some $23,000 over 2021.
