Banff, AB - Town Council approved a 2.33 per cent increase for Banff property tax, the rate of inflation for Alberta in 2012, at their meeting Monday. During the review process of the tax bills it was discovered that the assessment for the linear properties in town was not included in the assessment estimates used for calculating the 2013 tax rate. The result would have been an over levy of approximately $127,000 in municipal tax revenue if left unchanged. On Friday, May 17 council amended the tax bylaw to reflect the adjustment.
The average residential property, valued at $631,300, will pay about $40 less than the previous year on the municipal portion of the property tax invoice. However, property owners will see an increase overall on their tax bill. The education tax, set by the province, has increased by 16.4 per cent for residential and 6.7 per cent for non-residential properties. This means the average residential property will pay an increase of $235 for the school tax portion while an average commercial property will see an increase of $1,013 for the school tax portion.
To mitigate the impact of the school tax portion of the tax bill, Council kept a 6 to 1 tax rate split between non-residential properties and residential. The split, combined with an increase in assessed value, means an average commercial property valued at $3.225 million will pay about $1,745 more for the municipal portion of their bill. Altogether, the average commercial property will see an increase of 4.48 per cent or $2,887, with the education tax and levy for Bow Valley Regional Housing included. The average homeowner will pay 6.01 per cent or $197 more with school tax and regional housing included.
Tax bills will be mailed at the end of May and are due by 4:30 p.m., July 2, 2013.