As a result of the Regular Meeting held on Wednesday, August 5th, Vulcan County Council has taken the unusual step of creating a one-time grant for residential property tax-payers. Says Reeve Derrick Annable, “During budget deliberations last fall, it was Council’s intention to lower the property taxes payable for residential property taxes. Even after we lowered the mill rate, from 9.14 to 8.14, the new residential assessment came in higher than in 2008, so Council was discouraged to find that the residential tax levy still created higher property tax notices in 2009 for many residents. At a time when everyone in Alberta is experiencing financial constraints, Council asked Administration to find ways to address this situation.”

After a mid-year financial review, Administration proposed a reduction in reserve transfers for 2009 to create a one-time grant for those with residential assessments. One-time grant amounts, equaling about 20% of the residential levy, will be applied to each tax roll paying a residential tax levy. Council has ear-marked approximately $650,000 to be refunded in total, and will be shared on a pro-rated basis by 1,969 residential rate-payers based on their residential assessments.

Says Reeve Annable, “It means that Council will postpone funding some reserves in 2009, and it may mean that we will have to delay some future capital projects for a year or two. It was our intent to lower residential property taxes for 2009 and we were serious about that objective.” The one-time grant amounts will be calculated on the 2009 residential assessment, and will be directly applied to the various accounts over the course of the next few weeks. After the one-time grant is applied to the tax accounts, any accounts that indicate credit balances will have the credit refunded to the property owner.