How Lethbridge compares to the rest of Alberta on property taxes & spending

Jul 28, 2021 | 11:03 AM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – Alberta’s largest municipalities were stacked up against each other to compare municipal spending, property tax “fairness”, and the perceptions business have of their local governments.

A new report from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) shows that, over the last 10 years, the province’s 17 largest municipalities decreased their real spending per capita by 8.4 per cent, but that grew by six per cent in Lethbridge.

This means that, between 2010 and 2020, municipal spending in Lethbridge rose at a faster rate than the population grew in nine of those years.

The CFIB then looked at the “property tax fairness ratios” for each community, which is the difference between what commercial property owners are assessed at and what share of total property taxes they pay. The lower the ratio, the more “fair” it is.

Out of those 17 cities, Lethbridge’s was the 10th most fair with a ratio of 1.94. Leduc was the lowest at 1.11 while the R.M of Wood Buffalo was the highest by a significant margin at 5.86.

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However, the CFIB notes that the fairness ratio in Lethbridge has decreased by 10.9 per cent from 2010 to 2020.

They asked 734 business owners how their municipal government should address rising commercial property taxes. The most popular answers were reducing operational spending (72 per cent), instituting a hiring freeze on non-essential areas (54 per cent), and reducing municipal employee wages and benefits (52 per cent).

According to the report, small businesses – defined as having between one and 99 employees – make up 98 per cent of all companies in Alberta.

Their top concerns at this point of the pandemic are economic repercussions (78 per cent), reduced consumer spending (55 per cent), and business cash flow (50 per cent).

You can access the full report from the CFIB here.

(Canadian Federation of Independent Business)

by David Opinko