Nobleford approves tax reduction

Last week, the Village of Nobleford council approved a 2014 tax bylaw that will see homeowner property taxes reduced by one per cent. According to a recent media release, this is the seventh consecutive year Nobleford has reduced property taxes. 

Residential home taxes for 2014 will be half of what they were in 2007, with a total mill rate set at 3.05 and commercial and industrial tax total mill rate will be 5.98. The media release noted a single-family dwelling home valued at $330,000 will be taxed a total of $1,000 this year, with $130 going to Nobleford. The remainder of the tax collected will be forwarded to the province of Alberta plus $40 for senior housing and $830 for schools.

Nobleford, according to the media release, also has the lowest property taxes of any municipality in Alberta and the village has held that title since 2008. Nobleford will be celebrating its Centennial in 2018 and will award a tax-free year on the municipal tax levy portion for residential properties.

“This is kind of a mandate from a previous council and it was passed on to us. Of course we were asked what our thought on it was but as a small community — and we’re still quite small — but when we started this whole transformation, if you will, we were struggling as a lot of these small communities nowadays are. One of the ways that we thought that we could attract interest into these smaller communities was making it a place that was affordable,” said Nobleford Mayor Don McDowell, who served a previous term on council with this term being his first as mayor. McDowell noted young families can move to Nobleford and buy a $100,000 house and really have something in a single-family dwelling.

“The lots are affordable and the taxes are very livable, to say the least.”

According to McDowell, all a person has to do is look at the demographic of the village’s residents — young people. “All of our new subdivisions are just absolutely loaded with young people with big families.”

One of the reasons the Village of Nobleford is able to keep taxes low is the village has a spray park, as opposed to the village investing in a pool. McDowell said the spray park gets plenty of use and was the best idea the village could have came up with.

“We’re trying to be realists in this world of ours today. Everybody would love to have one of those huge homes overlooking the coulee kind of thing but most of us in reality can’t afford that. We’re trying to keep it something that is affordable,” said McDowell.

As for the village’s upcoming Centennial plans, McDowell said the attempt to have zero taxes would be a gift from council. “We’re already budgeted for that.”

Kirk Hofman, the Village of Nobleford’s Chief Administrative Officer (CAO), said the recent news is consistent with the village’s long-term planning and objectives set out years ago.

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