Last night, Council adopted Bylaw 08.21, which is the 2020 Mill Rate Bylaw, as proposed by Town Administration.

“This Council continues to work closely with Administration to keep our taxes low for our community,” shares Mayor Colberg. “As always, it’s important to us to respond to the potential revenue shocks due to the pandemic. Drumheller’s mill rate is below the provincial average, and we will continue to work toward finding more efficiencies along the way.”

The Mill rate is the amount of tax payable per dollar of the assessed value of a property. The mill rate is based on 'mills'; as each mill is one-thousandth of a currency unit, one mill is equivalent to one-tenth of a cent or $0.001. Property tax in dollar terms is calculated by multiplying the assessed property value and the mill rate and dividing by 1,000. As a property may be subject to tax by a number of different authorities, mill rates are set by each taxing authority so as to meet the revenue projections in their budgets.

“Property assessment refers to a reasonable market value of a property,” explains CAO, Darryl Drohomerski. “All properties are re-assessed yearly on a wide scale appraisal system. Property Owners cannot appeal their taxes, only the assessed value of their properties. There is process available to appeal property assessments, which is available on our municipal website. 

The 2020 mill rate remained the same as 2019, however a small increase will occur in 2021. The 2021 Operating Budget detailed a 0% increase to the municipal property tax requisition. Tax notices will be mailed late May with the deadline to pay with no penalty.

Councillor Jay Garbutt added, “Due to the fact that overall assessment has declined across the province, of course the mill rate will have to go up to generate the same amount of revenue in previous years. These mill rate changes may increase or decrease bills based on the value of their property. This is a nominal change.”

Requisitions from the Government of Alberta

• Alberta School Foundation is $2,288.113 for 2021, an increase of $49,020.00 from 2020
• Christ the Redeemer Catholic Schools is $374.791, a decrease of $63,204.00 from 2020
• Designated Industrial Properties us $2,677.00, an increase of $6.00 from 2020
• Drumheller and District Senior’s Foundation is $554,230.00, an increase of $23,610.00 from 2020

Examples

• A $200,000 residential property will see a tax bill increase from $2,313 in 2020, to $2317 in 2021; an increase of $4
• A $300,000 residential property will see a tax bill increase from $3,470 in 2020, to $3,475 in 2021; an increase of $5
• A $500,000 commercial property will see a tax bill from $8,906 in 2020, to $9,153 in 2021; an increase of $247

Supporting documentation

Alberta Regional Dashboard

Municipal Tax Rate by Municipality 

Drumheller Property Tax

Council Approves 2021 Operating Budget with Zero Increase to Taxpayers