File photo of Lethbridge City Hall. (Lethbridge News Now)

By Justin Goulet

Lethbridge City Council maintains 0% property tax increase

May 11, 2022 | 10:17 AM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – Lethbridge City Council is keeping the 0% property tax increase intact.

On Tuesday, May 10, 2022, City Council unanimously approved both second and third reading of Bylaw 6358, the 2022 Municipal Property Tax Bylaw, which outlines the 2022 municipal tax rate.

This rate is determined by taking the City’s budget divided by the total value of all properties within Lethbridge. An individual tax bill is calculated by multiplying the tax rate with the assessment value of an individual property to make sure all property owners pay their portion of funds required to operate the City of Lethbridge.

The City is keeping the 0% property tax increase, but unfortunately, residents will still see a slight increase on their overall bill.

The typical house in Lethbridge ($285,800) will see an overall jump of about $23. That increase is due to a change in taxes collected by the Alberta Government for the education tax and the Green Acres Foundation budget.

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Lethbridge Mayor Blaine Hyggen said, “I know a lot of people will say ‘well my taxes have gone up, I’ve got my assessment and my taxes have gone up’.”

“There’s parts of that tax assessment that we do not control … For the community to know, we are at [a] zero per cent increase for our city portion of the taxes,” stated Hyggen.

In 2022, the residential component of the provincial education tax levy has gone up by 4.84 per cent, which results in increased taxes for most ratepayers to fund education. Meanwhile, the Green Acres Society budget has increased by a net amount of about $90,700, or 4.36 per cent. The increase is required to fund affordable housing for seniors. This results in increased taxes to fund Green Acres.

MARKET VALUE

Back in 2020, the pandemic caused downward shifts in market value.

Last year saw a recovery to property values. Like many communities in Alberta, Lethbridge property values went up in 2021. The 2022 Assessment reflects market value as of July 1, 2021.

Mayor Hyggen said “it is tough” to maintain the 0% increase at the municipal level and he is hoping to avoid a reduction in City of Lethbridge services to keep that going.

“We hope that’s not the case and that it’s more of working more efficiently with what we’ve got.”

In December 2020, the previous City Council approved amendments to the operating budget to reduce the municipal tax increase to 0% for 2021 and 2022. Because there was a 0% budget increase and market values rose, the corresponding municipal tax rate dropped in all categories.

READ MORE: Council targets 0% property tax and utility rate increase for 2021

READ MORE: Lethbridge City Council approves Municipal Property Tax bylaw

All property tax notices will be mailed out at the end of May, with a due date of June 30, 2022. Lethbridge City Council will hold its 2023-2026 Operating Budget deliberations in November.

More information on property taxes in Lethbridge is available through the City website.