MUNICIPAL
PROPERTY TAXATION

The property tax system is comprised of two processes - preparing the assessments, and setting the tax rate. The assessor’s job is to prepare assessments. The municipal council is responsible for completing the second process, setting the tax mill rate. In addition to setting the tax mill rate, the municipal council is responsible for calculating the taxes payable, and collecting the taxes.

TAX RATE

Each year, municipal councils budget the amount of money needed to operate their municipality. From this amount, the council then subtracts known revenues ( licences, grants, and permits). The remainder is the amount of money the municipality needs to raise through property taxes in order to provide services for the year. This revenue requirement is then used to calculate the tax rate. The tax rate is the percentage of assessed value at which each property is taxed in a municipality. The revenue requirement is divided by the assessment base, which is the total value of all assessed properties in the municipality.

EDUCATION PROPERTY TAXES

In Alberta, education is a provincial program. The taxes that fund the program are raised and distributed on a provincial basis. Education property tax dollars are pooled in the Alberta School Foundation Fund and allocated among school boards throughout the province. This system of pooling taxes from all municipalities enables the province to provide all students with a standard level of education, no matter where they live. Each year the province calculates the amount every Alberta municipality must contribute towards the public education system.

SUPPLEMENTARY ASSESSMENT & TAXATION

A supplementary property assessment is required when a new building or an addition to an existing building is completed in the current calendar year. The supplementary tax bill will reflect the number of months the building was completed or occupied during the year.

Provincial legislation requires the City of Lloydminster to apply the same tax rates to supplementary assessments that were applied for annual property tax purposes; this includes both the municipal tax rate and the Provincial Education tax rate.

The City’s contracted assessor must determine the value of the new improvements added, then place the property on the supplementary assessment roll. A supplementary assessment roll is prepared for new improvements with the same information as an annual assessment roll. The supplementary assessment roll is used to produce supplementary assessment notices.