BONNYVILLE – There won’t be a big change when it comes to property taxes for Town of Bonnyville residents after council approved a zero per cent increase.
During their May 11 meeting, council unanimously passed the 2021 tax rate bylaw.
Although the tax rate didn’t go up, the mill rate did move up a bit as a result of a drop in assessments and an increase in the school requisition.
“The mill rate for residential properties has increased overall by 0.47727 mills,” Director of Finance Renee Stoyles told council. “The multi-family residential property mill rate has increased overall by 0.039 mills, and the non-residential property (mill rate) has increased by 0.70287 mills.”
When compared to 2020, the municipal mill rate for residential increased by 0.235 to 7.2256 mills, while commercial went up by .04989 to 10.9058 and multi-family stayed relatively the same at 6.8105.
In 2020, the town added a bylaw that allowed the residential assessment class to be divided into subclasses for the purpose of multi-family residential assessments. These properties are assessed based on income, much like commercial properties, but have always been charged the same mill rate as residential properties.
According to Stoyles, the multi-family residential was the only residential class to see an increase in assessments from 2020. They jumped by roughly $8,100 to $188,157 when compared to the first year the bylaw was in place.
In addition to the municipal portion, the town also collects taxes for schools and seniors.
The 2021 school requisition sits at 2.6522 mills for residential properties, a decrease of 0.2014 when compared to 2020. The commercial stayed relatively the same at 3.8934 mills. Overall, the municipality will collect just over $2.87 million for the school requisition. This year’s requisition includes an under levy from 2020 in the amount of $5,321.
The seniors requisition saw a drop of 0.03568 mills to 0.05760 mills for both commercial and residential. Just over $53,100 will be collected for these taxes.
Combining all of these areas will see an overall mill rate increase of 5.05 per cent for residential to 9.9354, 0.66 per cent for multi-family residential to 9.5203, and 4.97 per cent for non-residential to 14.8568.
For example, a residential property with an assessed value of $216,190 for 2021 will see an overall tax bill of $2,147, which is a slight decrease when compared to the previous year. That same property was assessed at $231,170 in 2020 and the overall taxes were $2,186. The municipal portion of the taxes comes in at about $1,500, while the school requisition is roughly $570, and the seniors requisition is $12.45.
A multi-family residential property that was assessed at $216,790 for 2021 will see an overall tax bill of $2,063, approximately $180 more than last year. That same property was assessed at $199,190 in 2020 and the overall taxes were $1,883. The municipal portion of the taxes will come in around $1,470 with about $21 for the school requisition and just over $12 for the seniors requisition.
A commercial property assessed at $1.99 million for 2021 will see their taxes come in at just under $30,000, a slight decrease when compared to 2020. Previously, the same property was assessed at $2.17 million and the overall taxes were just over $30,800. Of that, $21,783 was for municipal, $7,776 was for the school requisition, and the seniors requisition was $115.
Overall, the town will be collecting around $546 million for residential, $27.62 million for multi-family residential, and roughly $351 million for commercial.
Robynne Henry, Bonnyville Nouvelle
