Given the way the cost of living is battering household budgets these days, you would think this year, out of any year, would be a time for restraint when it comes to municipal budgets and their corresponding impact on property taxes.
Diamond Valley certainly got that memo as its council will debate a budget this evening that includes a zero per cent tax hike. Foothills County, which has postponed its decision until next week, is looking at a 3.57 per cent tax increase in what’s being called a status quo budget.
Okotoks, on the other hand, has already approved a budget that not only includes a 4.65 per cent property tax hike, but also increases the natural gas franchise fee to the highest level allowable, which is comparable to another three per cent bump on your taxes.
We understand that local politicians and bureaucrats are the first to get dumped on if civic services aren’t up to taxpayers’ expectations, but was this the year for Okotoks to approve 14 new staff positions? To invest more in transit and the library?
It’s not a question of whether the expenditures are worthy, but rather if we can afford them during a time when grocery bills, heating/lighting costs and mortgage payments have all risen sharply. While households are cutting costs wherever they can to make ends meet, that philosophy didn’t extend to the Municipal Centre where additions were the order of the day.
Yes, council used a tax stabilization reserve to reduce the 2024 property tax rate but when you combine the increase in taxes and franchise fees, you end up in the neighbourhood of the 7.8 per cent hike that Calgary approved to much dismay.
There’s no doubt that property tax increases are inevitable, but there are certain times when they’re a little easier to take. This, unfortunately, was not one of those times.
