Barnwell council sets mill rate

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By Greg Price
Taber Times
gprice@tabertimes.com

Village of Barnwell residents will be seeing a raise of 4.6 per cent in its mill rate as the taxman comes around.

Village council passed all three readings of Mill Rate Bylaw 02-16 at its May 19 meeting as the mill rate bump is expected to raise an extra $20,000 in capital.

The raise is in response partially to the huge capital project the village has to help pay for in the modernization of Barnwell School.

“That has been our one major capital project over the last three years,” said Wendy Bateman, CAO for the Village of Barnwell. “Plan A (the 4.6 per cent increase) people are going to see a $50 to $100 raise (in their taxes).”

“Next year we won’t have the school (to worry about), so it should put us in pretty good shape for next year,” added Deputy Mayor Darrell Turner.

Mayor Eric Jensen put on the floor a 2.3 per cent increase with $10,000 in extra capital for discussion.

“I’m taking into consideration we are not going to have as much financial pressure next year,” said Jensen. “That’s just my thought.”

Expenses for Barnwell when factoring in administration, bylaw, cemetery, common services, garbage, library, planning, protective services, recreation, roads/streets, sewer, water, and capital and other expenses, came in at $1,660,059, with revenue coming in from those same categories at $1,178,364, with $481,695 needed to be raised by general municipal property taxation to balance the books.

There are provincial requisitions that are beyond a council’s control like the Alberta School Foundation Fund (approximately ($185,000), Holy Spirit RCSRD (approximately $6,600) and Seniors Foundation (approximately $6,100).

The assessed value of all property in the Village of Barnwell as shown on the assessment roll is as follows: Residential and Farmland ($73,051,780), Non-residential ($3,135,510) and Machinery and Equipment ($294,870), for a total of $76,482,160.

The general municipal tax rate for 2016 is as follows: Residential (6.2282), Farmland (7.0000), Non-residential (8.2023); Annexed residential (3.4550), Annexed non-residential (8.2084) and Annexed farmland (7.1131).

The motion was passed with Mayor Eric Jensen opposed.

Councillor Christy Lund was absent from the meeting.

Village council also made an amendment to the minimum amount payable as property tax for improved residential property for general municipal purposes to $1,000.

The rationale of the minimum tax is that whatever a residential property is assessed at, its inhabitants are still putting the same demand on municipal services such as road maintenance, garbage collection, sewer and water etc. as any other resident.

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