Mckillop residents complain of huge tax hike
A group of rural ratepayers is raising the spectre of a “tax revolt” at Last Mountain Lake, after property taxes shot up by 130 per cent for the average residential property owner in the RM of Mckillop.
Reeve Howard Arndt said the group is exaggerating the issue, which he said stems from surprise expenses, back taxes and issues with the municipality’s administrator.
“Yes it’s very bad, but it’s not as bad as it’s being made out to be,” Arndt said, while admitting that’s “no consolation” for residents facing the massive hike.
The Ratepayers Association RM Mckillop No. 220 sent its complaints to media after council voted for the tax hike on Friday. In a news release, the group claimed taxes are set to rise 176 per cent relative to 2017 levels — a near tripling.
Arndt said the RM aims to raise less than two times more tax revenue, collecting $3.3 million instead of $1.8 million.
Garry Dixon, a former councillor and resident, said he feels some ratepayers are being targeted — specifically those with properties near Last Mountain Lake. While agricultural and commercial taxes are set to rise by 10 per cent or less, residential properties face an 87 per cent mill rate increase. They will also be hit with a new $850 base tax.
Arndt confirmed that means someone with a residential property valued at $350,000 would pay 130 per cent more taxes. Dixon said some people will face even larger hikes, perhaps 200 per cent or more.
Dixon said the tax issue is the latest frustration for lakefront residents in an ongoing dispute with agricultural producers, who he said have a tight grip on council. He pointed to legal disputes and a petition calling for changes to division boundaries that give disproportionate representation to farmers. According to Dixon, they have remained unchanged since 1910.
“The agricultural producers don’t want the division boundaries changed at all. They want to control power,” he said.
He wants the minister of government
Yes it’s very bad, but it’s not as bad as it’s being made out to be.
relations to step in and order a forensic audit, Dixon said.
Arndt said the RM had only three weeks to respond to a massive hole in its finances, after its administrator revealed a previously unknown $420,000 shortfall. Together with a similar amount of back taxes, mounting legal fees and an expense relating to a treatment plant, that put the RM nearly $1 million in the red.
He said he doubts the missed shortfall was merely an “oversight,” given that the administrator is a chartered accountant.
“I have no reason to believe that the money was misappropriated,” he said. “I think it was spent on municipal work. According to our audited statement from last year, there was noting to suggest that money has disappeared out of the municipality.”
Arndt said the administrator is still with the RM and there is a process that must be followed if she is to be forced out, though he did not confirm that will happen.
He said he understands why lakefront property owners — many of whom are part-time cottagers who live elsewhere — feel targeted by the tax hike. However, he noted he will also have to pay higher taxes for his acreage, including the base tax.
“I’m targeted too,” he said. He hopes the RM can get back to “some sort of normality for next year,” he added.
“It should not have happened, but we are going to be making the changes to be sure it doesn’t happen again.”
Arndt said he will call for monthly financial reporting to improve transparency.