Smack dab in the middle.
That’s where Okotoks most often landed in the City of Calgary’s 2023 Residential Property Taxes and Utility Charges Survey.
Results of the survey were on the consent agenda of Okotoks council’s Jan. 13 meeting, which means the report was received for information but wasn’t discussed.
In the annual survey, Calgary compared its property tax and utility rates with 13 cities across Canada as well as seven local governments in the region, including Okotoks and Foothills County.
The survey included tax rates for various housing types and came up with an average property tax for single-detached houses. In that metric, Okotoks was fourth out of eight Greater Calgary communities at $3,690. High River was the lowest at $2,706 and Foothills County was the highest at $5,260; Calgary was fifth at $4,046.
In the property tax per person metric, Okotoks was again fourth at $1,621 while Foothills County was fifth at $2,119.
When average property tax and utility charges were combined for single-detached houses, Okotoks once again checked in fourth at $7,856, higher than Wheatland County, High River and Airdire, but below Cochrane, Calgary, Foothills County and Rockyview County.
The survey also looked at residential property tax as a percentage of the total tax levy. At 81.2 per cent, Okotoks was the second highest in the region, below only Cochrane at 85.2 per cent. Foothills County checked in at 75.4 per cent as most local governments were well above Calgary’s 57.6 per cent mark.
