Property assessment notices
Jan
09
2012
09
2012
Your property assessment notice states what your property would likely have sold for on July 1, 2011. This value is used to determine your share of the overall property taxes required for city services and infrastructure. For 2012, Council approved an overall tax increase of 5.39% (1.5% for neighbourhood renewal and 3.89% for core services like police, transit, roads, fire rescue, parks and community services. Sixty-one percent of the city’s budget is spent on providing these essential services.) So, the total amount of tax collected from all residents must increase by this amount, 5.39%, to meet the needs of a growing city.
This is where your property assessment becomes important. Not all residents will pay the same amount in property tax—it depends on the value of your home. And not all residents will pay the same increase. If your property’s value changed about as much as the average Edmonton property, your share of municipal tax will increase the average amount—about 5.39%, plus the provincial education tax set in April 2011. On average, property values for single-family homes decreased 1.7%; other residential homes (condos, townhouses etc) decreased in value by 1.9% on average.
So, if your house’s value changed by about the average amount—down 1.7%—you’ll pay about the average increase in taxes: 5.39% plus provincial education taxes. If your property’s value increased by more or less than the average city-wide amount, you will pay more or less than average, accordingly.
It is important to note that city revenues do not increase or decrease as market values of properties change. So just because average single-family homes decreased in value by 1.7%, the City does not collect 1.7% less in tax. Indeed, the City requires more in 2012 to pay for expanding services than it did in 2011. The city collects the fixed overall amount it needs, as determined by Council in the yearly budget. The market value is used only to calculate how much you pay relative to other taxpayers—your share of the total.
There's more information available at https://assessmentinfo.edmonton.ca and www.edmonton.ca/assessment, where you can compare property values in your area using maps.
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