North Battleford council had passed the mill rate bylaws for 2018, which means tax notices will be heading residents’ way soon.
The bylaws setting the mill rates dominated the discussion at city council Monday. The mill rates incorporated the overall three per cent property tax increase that had been decided during budget deliberations last December. However, owners of vacant buildings in the downtown and commercial corridors will see an even greater tax hit than last year.
Here are the highlights of what was decided Monday:
Council passed in three readings bylaws setting the mill rate, authorizing the levying of the tax rate and setting the minimum and base taxes, setting the UPAR rate and setting the tax rate for the vacant commercial buildings.
With respect to mill rates, the three per cent increase is being applied as follows: for residential, condo and condo parking/garage the mill rate is set at 4.89; for vacant residential it is 18.78, for multi family 13.91, for commercial 14.47, for elevators and pipelines and railway it is 17.32, and for agriculture, non-arable and “res land restricted” properties it is 22.81. The uniform mill rate has been set at 12.97.
The mill rate for vacant commercial buildings is going up. Last year it was set at twice the commercial rate, but this year it is going up to three times the commercial rate, to 43.41.
The special mill rate for vacant buildings was introduced a year earlier, along with an incentive program to spur development in the downtown, with the intention to get the vacant buildings back into circulation. The special mill rate impacts buildings downtown and along the main commercial corridors entering and exiting the city.
The bylaw authorizing levying of the vacant commercial buildings tax rate was the last of the four bylaws passed at Monday’s meeting.
The bylaw authorizing the levying of a base tax for Underground Pipe and Asphalt Replacement program includes a base tax in the amount of $4.36 per frontage measurement levied. There is no increase in UPAR compared to last year.
The education property tax mill rate on each dollar of all tax assessments to public and separate school supporters has been set: for agricultural it is 1.43, for residential 4.12, for commercial industrial 6.27 and for resource (oil and gas, mines, pipelines) 9.68.
Those rates are unchanged from 2017. The provincial government confirmed the rates for 2018 in correspondence to the City received at the Monday meeting.
Council also received correspondence from Jordan Kist, Light of Christ School Division, confirming that their board has chosen to adopt the mill rates set out by the province.
While the budget was adopted way back in January, there were still a few items left over from those deliberations that were finally approved Monday night.
Council voted to approve amendments to the 2018 budget so an additional $194,000 can be borrowed to accommodate the following budget changes: revenue loss from reassessment ($56,000), the operational grant increase for the Battlefords Humane Society ($77,000), the sanitary sewer trunk main pre-design work ($100,000), the capital grant to North Battleford Golf and Country Club ($162,500) and offsetting revenue coming to the City from the SaskEnergy surcharge of $201,500.
It was explained by Mayor Ryan Bater to reporters following the council meeting that these additional requests had been presented during budget deliberations.
“The big unknown for us was the provincial budget and we didn’t know if we were going to be hit harder or the same as last year. So we told all those organizations that we’re waiting until after the provincial budget.”
Once the provincial budget came down, Bater said the organizations were consulted again and the decisions were made. There is no change to taxes as a result of the approvals.
With respect to the $162,500 grant to the golf course, it was explained this would go towards addressing capital needs at the course, including 50 per cent of the cost of replacing one hole.
The retention of hole 4 has been an expensive issue for the golf course, with heavy rains impacting that particular hole and fairway on an annual basis. The intention is to move hole 4 to higher ground where there will be fewer problems.
Now that the mill rate is set and the budget amendments are passed, the next step for the City is sending out tax notices.
Mayor Bater said administration will start preparing those tax notices and he expects those to go out “in short order.”
