Most Black Diamond property owners can expect to pay lower taxes this year.
Town council approved its 2020 tax rate bylaw at its June 3 meeting, revealing a reduction in taxes compared to 2019.
The average homeowner with a house valued at $334,000 will have a drop in taxes of about $208, or 5.8 per cent, this year compared to 2019, whereas a commercial property worth $624,000 will see an approximate $136 decrease, representing a 1.65 per cent drop, said Brown.
The estimates take into consideration the education and seniors’ requisitions.
Brown said the education requisition is the same as last year, while the Westwinds Communities seniors requisition increased by $593 for the Town.
“The Province had previously planned to increase the school requisition by four per cent this year, but they have subsequently rolled it back to be the same as last year,” Brown said.
That, combined with council’s $2.9 million operating budget for 2020 – a two per cent decrease from last year – means financial relief for most ratepayers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Council has done a really good job approving a fiscally-responsible budget and understanding the impact of COVID-19 on the community with many people not working and the lower residential assessments,” said Brown.
The Town's residential property assessments experienced a 0.3 per cent decrease from last year while non-residential properties increased by six per cent.
When budget discussions began last fall, administration proposed a 1.5 per cent increase to cover rising operational expenses and to give staff a raise.
“The cost of utilities and every day hard costs continue to go up and our taxes didn’t go up in accordance so we warned council last year and this year that it’s going to start affecting our business level,” said Brown. “That’s one of the reasons we’re looking at things on a more regional scale like garbage collection.”
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit Alberta, many people lost their jobs and administration and council worked to make the load lighter on ratepayers. This meant no raises for staff.
In addition to facing a tight budget, Brown said the Town will take on more expenses this year due to the pandemic.
“We don’t know how much COVID-19 is going to impact our town yet but there’s internal expenses,” she said. “We’ve manoeuvered our fleet so everybody has separate trucks. That will increase our operation costs as far as fuel costs.”
The Province’s physical-distancing restrictions resulted in council having to meet via phone conference, which resulted in another unexpected expense, Brown said.
“Council meeting are costing $40 a meeting due to the phone-in system being used,” she said. “It doesn’t seem like a lot, but if you throw in that we have two council meetings, plus COVID-19 meetings, plus emergency planning meetings, we’re averaging close to $200 a month on meetings which have not been budgeted for.”
The pandemic has also resulted in lost revenue through protective services, said Brown, with fewer traffic tickets issued due to a drastic decrease in people travelling.
“It will take us a year or so to figure out the impact of COVID-19 on our municipality from reduced revenue to additional expenses,” she said.
In light of the financial hardships experienced by many during the COVID-19 pandemic, council agreed to allow an extension on tax payments, which must be paid no later than Oct. 30.
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