After three years of no tax increases, Stettler residents need to brace themselves for a rise in 2023.
Stettler Town Council has approved a four per cent residential and non-residential tax increase for this year.
The 2023 Town of Stettler Budget will see the municipality collecting revenues of just over $22 million in 2023. Of those funds, $9 million will be collected via taxes; the remainder will be collected via service fees, inter-governmental transfers and other revenue sources.
“Over 50 per cent of our needs come from a non-tax source,” said chief administrative officer (CA)) Greg Switenky.
Of the $9 million collected through taxes, $6.3 million will be held for the municipality’s operations and capital needs while roughly $3 million is collected on behalf of the provincial government for education, seniors housing, and policing.
Due to government grants for capital expenses, roughly $2 million of the overall budget will be a straight in-and-out transaction resulting in zero net change for the town revenues.
According to CAO Switenky, the goal of administration has been to keep around $1 million available per year for capital purchases; however, with three years of no tax increases combined with prices of everything going through the roof in recent months that number has eroded to just over $650,000 with no increase.
The four per cent tax increase will increase available cash for capital expenses to just under $779,000.
While the town’s tax rate is increasing, the final increase, or decrease, one sees on their 2023 tax bill is going to depend on property assessments and on provincial elements of the tax process.
Switenky also noted during a May 9 Tax deliberation meeting that the province has frozen school taxes, so, thanks to new growth in the community, those taxes are being spread over more people.
“More people help us pay for it,” said Switenky.
An average sample property tax breakdown attached to the budget document shows that it will see an overall increase of just under $136 on its tax bill in 2023.
While council passed, unanimously, the tax increase during its May 16 council meeting, the tax deliberation on May 9 sparked some debate.
While the majority of council agreed that the four per cent increase struck a balance between necessary increase, Mayor Sean Nolls felt that after three years of no increase, an argument could be made for a five per cent increase, particularly in light of RCMP costs and provincial funding like the Municipal Sustainability Initiative grant.
“There is a lot of uncertainty going forward for us,” said Nolls.
Coun. Kurt Baker, a small business owner himself, said he would champion for a three per cent increase.
“I appreciate the transparency of the document,” said Baker, referring to the budget.
“It’s not necessarily affordable for ratepayers, but it is more palatable.”
Coun. Cheryl Baros agreed that the four per cent increase was about the maximum ratepayers would tolerate.
“If we went any higher, we would have some very mad residents,” said Baros.
The Town of Stettler announced the passing of the budget in a May 17 press.
“With the past three years of 0% increases and two years of not increasing utility rates, we have had to look at the long-term impact for our organization and be mindful of inflation,” said Nolls.
“With this in mind, we have set a rate that will support the high level of service that we provide and considers the aging infrastructure within our town. We are confident that the budget adopted by Council addresses all of these needs and will set us up for long-term sustainability.”