Taxes in Drayton Valley are going up. But only very slightly. On Wednesday morning council approved a final budget for the year with a tax increase of 0.7 percent. That’s the equivalent of $12 a year on the average residential tax bill.
The overall aim is to ensure that the town receives the same tax revenues as last year so as not to impact service levels. The decision to approve the budget was not unanimous, with councillor Corey Peebles in particular calling for an extra effort to get the increase down to zero. He said many businesses in town were having to get by on greatly reduced revenues and he wasn’t comfortable with the idea that the Town was aiming to maintain its income at previous levels
“That doesn’t send the message out that I’m hoping (to send) during a pandemic,” he said.
He suggested that with the Omniplex currently closed there ought to be a way to save the money if the facility wasn’t reopened until August.
When it came to a vote on the operating budget Peebles was joined by Councillor Amila Gammana and Mayor Michael Doerksen, but the remaining four councillors voted in favour.
Earlier in the meeting debate had focussed on the fee schedule for the Early Childhood Development Centre. There had been some discussion of the possibility of introducing an increased rate for out of town residents. The ECDC runs at a deficit and spaces at the centre are subsidized by taxpayers in Drayton Valley. There have been ongoing attempts to persuade Brazeau County to contribute in order to offset the costs of the facility incurred by its residents. The County’s position continues to be that childcare should be dealt with by the province. The advice of administration was that an increased cost to county residents would lead to reduced usage of the ECDC, so would actually end up costing the Town more to operate.
Council did approve a change to the fee schedule for the landfill, which will see out of town residents paying around 20 percent more than those from Drayton Valley. That move is expected to increase the Town’s revenues by around $77,000 a year.
With the budget now approved, tax notices will be sent out later this month. Taxes are calculated using the mill rate along with the assessed value of the property. Since assessed values vary from year to year some residents may see a larger increase while others see their taxes fall. The municipal tax bill also includes requisitions for schools and for the Brazeau Seniors’ Foundation. Those numbers are not controlled by the Town and the money raised does not stay with the municipality.
