Edmonton Residential Property Owners Sees Taxes Go Up 4.8 Percent

Homeowners in Edmonton will be paying, on average, $119 more in property taxes this year. That is a 4.8 percent increase. A property with an assessed value of $365,000 will see a tax of $2,599 compared to the $2,480 seen last year. Property taxes go up roughly $10 per month. Apartment suite taxes, however, will go down 4.9 percent. An average tax for a suite in 2010 was $802. This year that amount goes down to $763. Landlords, not tenants, pay these taxes, but they may be figured into the rental price.

 The manager of Edmonton’s assessments and taxation department, Rod Risling, advised the reasoning behind this polar opposite in taxing. In the residential home market, the assessments went up an average of eight percent. On the other hand the apartment values decreased by roughly two percent. In the non-residential market, the tax increase is just over 11 percent, going from an average of $1,556 in 2010 to $1,728 this year.

All of these proposed rates must still be approved by council, which is expected to happen on Wednesday. The calculated amounts are based on the city’s need to collect $952 million to meet the budget for the various city services. Also needing funding is the provincial education budget, which is $34 million. Edmonton has to raise $1.3 billion to stay on point.