The numbers don’t add up.
Both the Town of Okotoks and Foothills County have advised taxpayers in recent weeks that property tax bills will be higher than anticipated this spring because of significantly larger than expected increases to the education requisition collected on behalf of the Province.
Foothills County taxpayers will be sending an additional $2.3 million to the provincial government thanks to the hike in this year’s education levy, which will help push property taxes about eight per cent higher than 2023 levels. In Okotoks, taxpayers will be coughing up an extra $1.6 million through the education levy, which translates to about $130 more on the average property tax bill.
More money for education is never a bad thing, particularly at this juncture when Alberta holds the dubious distinction of having the lowest per-pupil spending in all of Canada. Unfortunately, all that extra tax money being collected in the name of education won’t be showing up in local schools come September.
In fact, the Alberta Teachers Association announced last week that the Foothills School Division is one of 13 across the province that will see a funding cut for the 2024/25 school year. Despite extracting almost $4 million more from property owners in this region, projected education funding numbers show that Foothills is slated to see a decrease of $521,000. To be fair, Christ the Redeemer Catholic Schools are projected to see $1.2 million in additional funding.
What might be most galling in all of this is that not only is the Province using local governments as pawns to collect its windfall, but it’s also taking advantage of escalating real estate prices. Rather than adjusting the mill rate downwards to keep property taxes in check, the Province decided to reinforce fears over rising assessments by milking taxpayers for all they could get.
