File photo of Lethbridge City Hall (Lethbridge News Now)

By Justin Goulet

Lethbridge City Council approves Municipal Property Tax bylaw

May 5, 2021 | 9:33 AM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – The 2021 Municipal Property Tax bylaw has been unanimously approved by Lethbridge City Council.

Bylaw 6284 outlines the 2021 municipal tax rate (a.k.a. mill rate).

That’s determined by taking the City’s budget divided by the total value of all properties within the city.

An individual tax bill is calculated by multiplying tax rate with the assessment value of the person’s property to make sure all property owners pay their portion of funds required to operate the City.

Back in December, City Council approved a zero per cent increase in the operating budget, helping to minimize tax increases in Lethbridge. However, some residents might see an increase for other reasons.

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These include a change to their property assessment or change in taxes collected by the province for the education tax and the Green Acres Foundation budget.

Lethbridge mayor Chris Spearman said that in the city, residents are fortunate to enjoy a “high-quality of life for a reasonable cost of living”.

He noted that in the 2020 Resident Satisfaction survey, 94 per cent of respondents rated the quality of life in Lethbridge as ‘good’ or ‘very good’.

The mayor added that, “City Council is working hard to curb tax increases to residents while still maintaining the high level of services residents expect.”

“In fact, the increase to the municipal portion of the budget is expected to remain at zero for 2021 and 2022.”

In Alberta, the majority of towns and municipalities have seen drops in their assessment base, however, Lethbridge has stayed relatively constant over the last few years. Education taxes are distributed based on an assessment base’s proportional share of the overall tax supported costs of operating the education program. Lethbridge’s stronger assessment base results in a proportionally larger share of the costs, which increases education tax rates for the city for 2021.

The City noted that it offers more services and has higher service levels than many other cities and average property taxes and high service levels lead to “good value for home owners in Lethbridge”.

Officials added that house prices stay consistent in Lethbridge and are lower than many other municipalities in the province. This means both a mortgage and property taxes will be lower compared to a similar home in another city.

More details on the rate of return from paying property taxes in Lethbridge can be found here.

All 2021 property tax notices will be mailed out at the end of May, with a due date of June 30, 2021.

In April, City Council voted unanimously to approve changes to the 2021 property tax penalty dates. More information on that can be found here.