ELK POINT - As with many municipalities in the province, Town of Elk Point council members want residents to be clearly aware that a portion of their property taxes is collected on behalf of the Government of Alberta in the form of school requisition, an amount which they have no control over.
Elk Point Town Council approved a motion last Monday night to include a note on this year’s property tax notices stating, “a portion of their property taxes go directly to the provincial government to help pay for the operations of Alberta’s education system.”
The decision to provide the explanation of the education requisition comes on the heels of the provincial government increasing the education property tax (EPT) requisition paid by municipalities in the 2025 provincial budget.
“This increase will be reflected on the property tax bills that municipalities send to property owners in 2025,” Municipal Affairs Minister Ric McIver stated in a letter to municipalities in March.
Elk Point property owners will pay a total $451,919 in school requisition this budget year compared to $429,480 in 2024, which translates to an overall increase of five per cent. Residential education requisition increases by 4 per cent while non-residential educational requisition will jump by 7 per cent.
“Just to clarify, it’s not the municipalities . . . but we are forced to provide that one,” Deputy Mayor Jason Boorse said.
In his letter, McIver indicated that Budget 2025 was taking ‘an important step forward toward stabilizing operational funding for education systems across Alberta.”
While at one time, approximately one-third of operational funding for Alberta Education was generated by the EPT, in recent years the proportion that EPT contributes to funding education has decreased to less than 30 per cent. The government is increasing that to 31.6 per cent this budget year, and to 33 per cent in 2026/27.
The higher EPT rates along with rising property values and increased development in Alberta, are expected to take the total education requisition to $3.1 billion this budget year from $2.7 billion in 2024-25, according to Municipal Affairs.
The County of St. Paul sees its 2025 total education requisition jump to $4,843,307 from $4,391,327 in 2024 – an increase of 10 per cent.
