|
“Assessment”
is the process of placing an official valuation on a property for
taxation purposes – this value is used to calculate the amount of taxes
that will be charged to the owner of the property.
“Taxation”
is the process of applying a tax rate (mill rate) to a property’s
assessed value to determine the taxes payable by the owner of that
property. This is based on the budgeted funds required to operate and
maintain the municipality for that year.
“Market Value”
is defined in Section 1(n) of Alberta’s Municipal Government Act as:
“….the amount that a property might be expected to realize if it is
sold on the open market by a willing seller and buyer.”
The farmland and
residential assessment services for Starland County are provided by
Regional Assessment Management (RAM). RAM, along with Independent
Municipal Assessment Corporation (IMAC), perform the industrial
assessments on behalf of the County.
Inspections are done annually on properties which require an update due
to a physical change, a change of ownership, or at the discretion of the
assessor.
Calculation of Your Tax Bill
Tax bills are
calculated at Starland County based on Council’s policy as to what is
necessary to support County services for the upcoming year. To
determine the total amount required to serve the County needs, a total
amount is calculated for expenditures, that is reduced by any other
sources of revenue, including user fees and grants, to arrive at a
property tax amount to offset the difference.
The Tax amount on
your Assessment & Tax Notice is for taxes levied from January to
December of the current year, and is based on the assessed value of your
property as of December 31, 2009. Starland County’s “Combined
Assessment and Tax Notices” include separate tax levies taxed at
different rates that make up your total property tax:
-
Municipal Levy
– this amount is paid directly to the municipality and pays for
municipal infrastructure, facilities, services, programs, and other
budgeted items.
-
School Levy
– This amount is collected and submitted on behalf of school
systems.
Council has worked very hard to adopt
a budget that will not result in an increase in property taxes. As you
will notice from the table, the mill rate for Class 1 Residential
properties was dropped significantly. While the mill rate was reduced,
please note that these properties are assessed annually at their market
value. Market value is defined as the price a property might reasonably
sell for after adequate time and exposure to an open market. As you
might expect, these market values fluctuate throughout the County
depending on where the property is located, or if improvements have been
made on a specific property. As such, it is very important that every
landowner carefully review the combined Assessment and Taxation Notice.
The mill rate for Class 2 and Class 4
properties did increase this year, but the overall assessments for these
types of property declined in the past year, and the mill rate
adjustment that was made largely compensates for overall reduced
assessments for these properties. Farmland properties are assessed at a
regulated rate, and there is no noticeable change in farmland
assessments for 2010. The mill rate for this class has decreased
slightly from last year’s rate.
Starland County continues to have a
minimum tax of $20.00 per taxable property. This minimum tax covers the
cost of generating, mailing and collecting individual property taxes.
In all cases,
you should carefully review the information on the notice to ensure that
you understand and agree with the assessment information. If you have
any questions on the assessment of property, it is important that you
address these concerns in the first 60 days after receiving your
combined tax and assessment notice, and prior to September 1st,
2010. After the appeal period has expired, any assessment changes will
not be incorporated until the following year.
Penalty on Overdue Taxes
Due date for tax
payment is September 30th of the current year. Payment must
be made on or before this date to avoid penalty. If payment is mailed,
the envelope must be postmarked by Canada Post no later than September
30th of the current year. A postage meter imprint is not
acceptable proof of date of mailing. If the postmark is illegible, the
actual date of receipt by Starland County will apply.
An 8% penalty will be added on October
1, 2010 to all
current taxes not paid by the due date. A further penalty of 10% will
be added to all outstanding taxes on March 1st, 2011.
When taxes are to
be paid by a mortgage company, the owner is responsible to ensure the
taxes are paid before the due date. The owner of the property as of
January 1st in the taxation year is responsible for ensuring
that all taxation for the year is paid and must also provide the County
Office with notice of any ownership change.
Any property with
respect to which the taxes have been in arrears for more than one year
is liable to proceedings under the Municipal Government Act and
amendments thereto.
Assessment Inquiries & Complaints
The Municipal
Government Act was subject to major amendments that became effective for
the 2010 taxation year. Most of the changes relate to how you can
access assessment information, the appeal process itself, and it also
required Assessment Appeal Board members and staff to obtain mandatory
training.
As there are
sweeping changes to these processes, if you have any questions about
your property assessment, we encourage you to contact our office. If we
can’t provide the information required, we will provide you with the
contact information for our Municipal Assessors, and they will ensure
that you understand your property assessment.
We have also
added a number of documents to our website,
and these are also available upon request to our office. These
documents will help to explain the property and assessment process:
1. Guide
to Property Assessment and Taxation in Alberta
2. Access
to Property Assessment Information
3. Is
Your Property Assessment Fair and Accurate
4. Filing
a Property Assessment Complaint and Preparing For Your Hearing
5. Assessment
Review Board Complaint Form
6.
Assessment Complaints Agent Authorization Form
Please note
that you have until September 1st, 2010 to appeal your
assessment. There is a fee of $50.00 for each roll number complaint
which must accompany your appeal. Of course, we would encourage you to
contact our office and assessor if you have any questions.
For all linear
properties, please note that an assessment review board has no
jurisdiction to deal with complaints about assessments. Linear
assessment complaints will be heard by the Municipal Government Board.
Ongoing
Ratepayer Information
All ratepayers within the County receive a
complimentary subscription of “The Drumheller Mail”. This is sponsored
by Starland County, as a method of keeping residents up-to-date on
relevant information regarding County initiatives, programs,
developments, and other important events. If you are a ratepayer
within the County, and are not receiving your subscription of “The
Drumheller Mail”, please notify the County Office at 403-772-3793 or
email your request to
info@starlandcounty.com.
|