Tax Facts

Property Tax Breakdown

Property tax is made up of a Provincial education portion, or school "levy", a Green Acres Foundation portion, a municipal portion, also called a municipal "levy", and local improvement charges.  

• The Provincial Government determines the amount of education tax each municipality in Alberta will pay. Your City is required to collect this tax from property owners on behalf of the Province.
• The Green Acres Foundation determines the amount of tax necessary for the operation of their senior facilities and supports. Your City is required to collect this tax from property owners on behalf of the Green Acres Foundation.
• Municipal property taxes are used to pay for civic services like police and fire protection, community services, parks and recreation, transit, roads and other infrastructure.​

Setting Municipal Taxes

In its budget, City Council approves the amount of money required to support city services and programs. From this amount sources of revenue other than property taxes, such as provincial grants, license fees, and user fees, are subtracted. The balance is the amount to be raised from property taxes. Then the assessed property values, as compared to other homes at the same date each year (July 1), are used to determine each property owner's share of the total property tax revenue required.

Overall market value changes of properties do not affect the total revenue your City collects from property tax. Your City only collects enough taxes to realize the revenue required in the budget.

Your City does not get less tax revenue when total property values decrease. Nor does your City get more property tax revenue when the overall property values increase.

The Tax Rate

In order to calculate taxes, a tax rate is established. The formula used to determine the tax rate is as follows:

1. A change in the Provincial Education tax required by Alberta Learning and distributed to the Public and Separate School Boards
2. A change in the tax requirements of the Green Acres Foundation necessary for the operation of their senior facilities and supports.
3. A change in the City's overall budget to meet the demands for City services.
4. A change in your property's assessed market value if it is higher or lower than the average change in property values Citywide.