County tax rate adopted by council

By Stan Ashbee
Sunny South News

Lethbridge County council passed first, second and third reading of Bylaw 1467 — the 2016 Tax Mill Rate at a meeting held May 5. The Lethbridge County Levy will see a 0.80 per cent increase ($14,428,245). The Lethbridge Regional Waste Levy will see a 18.23 per cent increase ($473,525). The Green Acres Foundation Requisition will see a 3.87 per cent increase ($244,055) and the Alberta Education Requisition will see a 0.72 per cent decrease ($4,822,144).
Assessments for the 2016 tax year, according to a report submitted to council for consideration, includes $26,680,910 residential assessment increase from 2015 consisting of $21,977,150 new growth and $4,703,760 attributable to inflation.
Also, $16,774,460 increase in the non-residential/M&E assessed properties. This is attributable to $7,142,210 of net growth and $9,632,250 attributable to inflation. There was a $14,759,190 decrease in the linear assessment base and $7,344,820 decrease of machinery and equipment assessment included and offset in the overall increase, according to the report.
According to the report, an option was provided for consideration based on a 2:1 ratio between the residential and non-residential rates and no change to the farmland tax rate.
The 2016 budget is $14,428,245, which is an increase of $111,515 from last year. The farmland 2016 tax rate is the same as the 2015 tax rate.
This results in a $372 increase to the 2016 levy. The residential 2016 tax rate is the same as the 2015 tax rate. This results in an addition to the 2016 residential levy of $116,560 with $96,015 from new growth and $20,545 from inflation. The non-residential/M&E category has been reduced, resulting in a reduction of $5,024 to the 2016 levy.
Tax rate for municipal purposes include Class 3 (20.4495), Class 1 (4.6156), Class 2 & 4 (9.0654) and The tax rate for the Green Acres Foundation (0.1273).
The following rates are for school requisition purposes to be calculated to generate $4,505,068 for the 2016 Alberta School Foundation Fund (ASFF) and $317,075 for the 2016 Holy Spirit Roman Catholic School District: ASFF Residential and Farmland (2.4307), ASFF Non-Residential (3.4884), Holy Spirit Residential and Farmland (2.4307) and Holy Spirit Non-Residential (3.4884).