Coaldale Council tackle tax bylaws April 27

Posted on May 7, 2026 by Sunny South News

By Heather Cameron
Sunny South News

During the Town of Coaldale Council meeting on April 27, Council reviewed a myriad of bylaws including Supplementary Assessment Tax Bylaw 937-C-04-26, Special Tax Recreation Bylaw 938-C-04-26, and 2026 Property Tax Bylaw 939-C-04-26.

“The supplementary assessment tax bylaw is one that is brought to Council each year,” said Chief Financial Officer Tim Koba. “The supplementary assessment tax bylaw enables the assessor to prepare supplementary assessments according to Section 313 of the Municipal Government Act and allows the municipality to collect tax on those assessed supplementary properties each year. If you are a property owner and you finish new construction during the current year, you’re going to get something called a supplementary assessment in order to make sure the share of taxes you’re paying for the year is fair.”

CFO Koba pointed out that there is also a section of the Municipal Government Act that allows for Supplementary Assessment Tax Bylaw 937-C-04-26 to be a continuous bylaw so that it does not have to come to Council each year for review and renewal. 

With that said, CFO Koba established that supplementals budgeted for 2026 in the operating budget is The Town of Coaldale 2026 Operating Budget includes $70,000 in supplementary tax revenue versus the $25,000 that was allocated in past years.

Administration, according to Koba, was looking for all three readings to be done on the bylaw.

Prior to the readings, Administration showed Council a video created by the City of Edmonton that outlined the definition of a supplementary assessment and opened the floor to a brief discussion.

Afterwards, Councillor Pickering made a motion that Council approve first reading of Supplementary Assessment Tax Bylaw 937-C-04-26. The motion was carried. Mayor Van Rijn then looked for someone to sponsor a second reading of Supplementary Assessment Tax Bylaw 937-C-04-26. Councillor Abrey sponsored that motion, and it was carried. Mayor Van Rijn then sought someone to sponsor unanimous consent to hold all three readings in one meeting for supplementary assessment tax bylaw 937-04-26. Councillor Reese made that motion, and the motion was carried. Finally, Mayor Van Rijn looked for someone to sponsor third and final reading of supplementary assessment tax bylaw 937- C-04-26. Councillor Sailer made that motion, and the motion was carried.

Following the approval of Borrowing Bylaw Supplementary Assessment Tax Bylaw 937-C-04-26, Koba brought Special Tax Recreation Bylaw 938-C-04-26 to Council for all three readings. Special Tax Recreation Bylaw 938-C-04-26, Koba explained, is a bylaw that needs to be passed each year, and is for funding the costs of the multi-use recreation facility that was built in 2019-2020. The debenture, Koba stated, is a $10 million debenture, and the balance at the end of 2025 was just over $8 million.

“The revenue from this levy is used to pay for the principal and interest repayments,” said Koba. “The end date of this debenture is targeted for 2044.”

Ultimately, Mayor Van Rijn called for someone to make a motion that Council approve first reading of Special Tax Recreation Bylaw 938-C-04-26. Councillor Abrey made that motion, and it was carried. Mayor Van Rijn then called for someone to sponsor a second reading. Councillor Chapman did so, and it was carried. Mayor Van Rijn then called for someone to sponsor Council providing unanimous consent to hold all three readings in one meeting for Special Tax Recreation Bylaw 938-C-04-26 and Councillor Pickering made that motion, which was carried. Finally, Mayor Van Rijn sought for someone to sponsor third and final reading of Special Tax Recreation Bylaw 938-C-04-26. Deputy Mayor Beekman made that motion, and it was carried.

Koba then proceeded to bring 2026 Property Tax Bylaw 939-C-04-26 to Council for first reading, making it clear that before the bylaw can be finalized, the Town of Coaldale needs to know Lethbridge County’s rates for the annex properties, but the first reading was prepared based on the 2026 to 2028 Operating Budget and amounts that Council needs to raise the fund the municipal portion required for taxes in order to fund the 2026 Operating Budget.

“The bylaw is prepared using assessment figures provided by our assessor including numbers for growth and inflation on both residential and non-residential properties,” said Koba. “We factor in those uh numbers when coming up with the proposed mill rates.”

Koba went on to explain that within the bylaw, there are statistics relating to growth and inflation including:

Residential Growth (new assessment): $52,460,570 = 4.35% 

Non-Residential Growth (new assessment): $77,049,990 = 26.54% 

Residential Inflation (increased property values): $123,417,300 = 10.23% 

Non-Residential Inflation (increased property values): $26,435,890 = 9.11%

The municipal portion of the residential tax rate is adjusted for the inflation factor, Koba explained, resulting in a decrease in the tax rate, so the Town’s budget will not inflate with changes in residential property values.

Other tax information that the bylaw highlights is in the box (below). 

The floor was then opened for questions and then, finding none, Mayor Van Rijn sought a motion that Council provide first reading of 2026 Property Tax Bylaw 2026 Property Tax Bylaw 939-C-04-26 to Council for first reading. Councillor Sailer made that motion, and the motion was carried.