Yes, it could have been significantly higher. It could have also been lower.
We’re talking about the 4.5 per cent property tax hike that awaits Okotoks homeowners next year following Town council’s budget deliberations last week. The increase is more than double what had initially been projected for 2023 but with inflation exerting cost pressures pretty much everywhere, it stands to reason that local government budgets wouldn’t be immune.
This kind of property tax increase is being experienced in most Alberta municipalities — some have even flirted with double-digit hikes — so it’s not out of line in that sense, but that doesn’t mean it’s welcomed.
Given we’re all paying considerably more for essentials these days, there are likely a great many homeowners out there who would have liked to have seen council hold the line on this particular expense. It's unscientific and has an admittedly small sample size, but our online poll over the past week saw 88 per cent of respondents choose either the original two per cent increase or no hike at all when asked where they’d like next year’s tax bill to land.
That might be wishful thinking if we expect the Town to maintain a certain level of service, but it provides a glimpse into the minds of many taxpayers: if they’re forced to make do with less amid rising costs, it’s incumbent on governments to do so as well.
With wages consuming a significant portion of any local government’s budget, what the Town has termed as “competitiveness in the employee marketplace” must be watched carefully moving forward. Given Okotoks has a policy that requires it to pay mid-market salaries, it’s likely that wages will exert increasing pressure on future budgets, but as much as we want to attract and maintain good staff, there’s a limit to what taxpayers can afford.
Not able to pass along costs, homeowners have had to revise their household budgets due to inflation; governments could learn a thing or two from ratepayers.
