During the May 5, 2020 Council meeting, Council passed 1st reading of Bylaw 1086-20, which is the 2020 Tax Rate Bylaw. This bylaw reflects a mill rate increase of 8.3% over 2019’s rate. This increase is due to the following three, provincial government decisions:
1) Provincial Enhanced Policing Costs – the province has added $57,891.75 to the Town’s budget in 2020 to help fund their rural crime prevention strategy. This amount will be increased to $115,866 in 2021, $154,378 in 2022 and $231,733 in 2023. This funding will be used to pay for added RCMP officers and support staff throughout rural Alberta and not necessarily based within the Raymond/Magrath detachment.
2) Reduction in Municipal Sustainability Initiative (MSI) Operating Grant – the Town was informed in April 2020 that our MSI Operating grant would be reduced by $165,000 due the growth in our municipal assessment base.
3) Provincial Education Tax Requisition Increase – the province is collecting approximately $60,000 more from the Town in 2020 than was collected in 2019 to pay for K-12 Education expenses in the province.
Before these costs were downloaded to the Town, Council had worked very hard to carry the 2019 tax rate into 2020. Collectively, they reduced our operating expenses by approximately $750,000.
Council is accepting feedback on this Bylaw until May, 18th, 2020 at which time it will be brought to Council for 2nd and 3rd reading. Please send your feedback to Kurtis Pratt, Chief Administrative Officer at kurtispratt@raymond.ca.
The 2019 Southern Alberta Municipal Service Rate Survey compares total tax & utility expenses for 45 communities Calgary south that we track and compare annually to monitor the costs of our services when compared to our regional neighbours. Since 2006, Council’s focus has been to have a competitive average, which was to be ranked between 20-27 out of 45 communities. In 2019, the Town was 26th on the list. Towards the end of 2020, we will update the spreadsheet with 2020 data.
Tax Rate Bylaw #1086-20 – 1st Reading
