Lethbridge residents hit with high property taxes

I was a resident of Lethbridge throughout my life until four years ago. I owned a house in Lethbridge worth about $300,000 and found it hard each year to pay the everincreasing property taxes. These high taxes prompted me to move to the Crowsnest Pass.

I would like to bring attention to the citizens of Lethbridge the high property taxes being paid in Lethbridge. If you own a house in Lethbridge valued at $300,000, you are paying this year $3,168.33 in property taxes (city tax estimator). This same assessed house if located in Medicine Hat would be $2,697.81; Red Deer: $2,689.77; Edmonton: $2,552.61; and Calgary: $1,916.94.

Young people today are struggling to pay mortgages and are faced with high property taxes and house insurance that increases very year. Wages aren’t going up similarly to offset these skyrocketing costs. What about retirees who have worked all their lives and now can barely hold onto their houses? Many seniors in Lethbridge will be looking at reverse mortgages as that is the only way they will be able to keep their house and pay the exorbitant city property taxes! I guess their other option is to move out of Lethbridge like we did.

What about fiscal responsibility and relieving citizens of Lethbridge of this heavy tax burden? Has city council ever thought of lowering property taxes to get them in line with other cities?