Council officially approves 2021 property tax freeze

City hall staff to send out notices in late May with taxes due June 30

Edmonton city councillors have given final approval to a property tax freeze for 2021 despite an increase to the city's provincial education tax requisition.

On Monday morning, council voted to keep the overall tax increase at zero per cent, as first decided in the 2021 budget approval last fall, by using $5.3 million in taxation revenue to offset the increased education tax amount.

This is the city's first tax freeze since 1997.

Without any change to the budget, the tax rate for non-residential properties would have gone up by 0.7 per cent and residences would have had an increase of 0.1 per cent.

Mary Persson, the city's chief financial officer, said the city is able to use assessment growth revenue to bring down the municipal tax portion and, in turn, offset the education tax requisition.

Although the provincial government implemented an education tax freeze for 2021, Persson said market value fluctuations and a lower amount collected in 2020 have led to the increase in Edmonton.

“In an effort to maintain no overall tax increase, administration is recommending a municipal tax decrease of 0.7 per cent in the non-residential category as well as a reduction in the education requisition for both residential and non-residential properties,” Persson said in a report to council.

Coun. Mike Nickel was the only vote against approval of the budget.

With the tax levy now approved, notices will be sent out to property owners in late May and taxes are due by June 30 to avoid late fees.

The city decided not to offer a deferral of late fees this year as was done last year in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The tax freeze doesn't mean that bills won't go up or down for some property owners. That depends on changes to property assessment values, which owners were notified of in February.

Properties with a typical assessment decrease will likely see their property tax bills on par with last year while those that saw a property assessment increase could see their bills go up, even with the tax freeze in effect.

Owners of a house around the $380,500 mark will pay about $2,669 in property taxes.

Mayor Don Iveson said he is grateful that the city's finance team was able to move money around to fund the education tax requisition without needing to increase property taxes.

Council had targeted a zero per cent increase since last fall to ease the financial burden on residents during the pandemic.

For businesses, this will be the second straight year with a property tax freeze.

“Two years in a row of zeros for businesses, against all the other pressures we're managing, is no small achievement and I'm very proud of council and city administration for their work to get to that goal. It hasn't been easy,” Iveson said.

Council approved two service packages but were able to find funding from outside the 2021 tax levy.

The city will use $904,000 in one-time funding from the financial stabilization reserve to increase the service level on the Valley Line Southeast LRT when it comes online later this year.

Council also approved $386,000 in annual funding for a new safety codes inspection program and procedure for excavations and enforcement. An increase to cash transit fares is also set to take effect May 1 unless council directs otherwise as part of budget discussions.

Council is set to debate the proposed increase as well as a recommended $10.3 million to fund emergent COVID -19 costs on Wednesday morning.

The transit cash fare is scheduled to go up from $3.50 to $3.75 and then to $4 in February 2022.

If council were to not implement the proposed increase, it would need to make up $870,000 in projected revenues in the budget.