Happy 2024! I hope you all had a pleasant and restful holiday season.
Property Assessment Notices
As we head into 2024, I would like to provide some important updates regarding property assessments and budget.
On November 28th, City Council agreed on a property tax levy increase of 6.6% in 2024. How this tax levy increase affects individual property owners will depend on their property’s assessed value.
On January 15th, the City of Edmonton sent property value assessment notices to property owners. If your property maintained or increased in value, your property taxes will increase from last year. I strongly encourage you to review your assessment notices, as well as check and compare at edmonton.ca/assessment or contact 311 to connect with an assessor.
The mill rate will be finalized in April, and your actual tax bill will be mailed at the end of May. However, it will be too late to challenge your tax bill in May or June. If you want to challenge your tax bill, you need to do that by March 25th.
Once you have your assessment notice, I encourage you to complete the following steps and the accuracy of your assessment:
- Review the details on your assessment notice.
- Check what makes up your property’s assessment value and compare it with similar properties in your neighbourhood using the tools on edmonton.ca/assessment.
- Contact the City for one-on-one support by calling 311(780-442-5311, if outside Edmonton). An assessor can answer most assessment-related questions with no formal complaint fees required.
If you disagree with your 2024 property value assessment, now is the time to file a formal complaint with the Assessment Review Board. You have until March 25th 2024 at 11:59 pm to file this complaint. Note that there is a fee to file a complaint. Please visit https://edmontontribunals.ca/assessment-review-board/filing-complaint for more information.
Budget and OP12
The 6.6% property tax levy increase that was approved in November was not a good outcome. Particularly for those on fixed incomes, this adds a significant increase to household budgets where people who are already struggling with significant inflation pressures might not be able to absorb a property tax increase.
At the end of January, City Council will receive an update on the Operating and Capital budgets. We will also receive an update on the Operating Budget Adjustment 12 which directs City Administration to identify another $240 million in savings. It is my intention to have community conversations about the suggestions that City Administration brings forward, to more clearly understand your priorities.
Later in the Spring, the City will receive its education tax requisition from the Province, which will determine how much of that portion of property tax bills will increase.
These conversations are important pieces of information that will inform the final tax increase in April.
Housing and Encampments
Once again, in the darkest, coldest part of the year, we are having a conversation about housing and supporting the most vulnerable among us.
Over the last several weeks many constituents and Edmonontians have expressed their concerns about the City’s approach with encampments. We urgently need to find a better way to manage encampments. On Wednesday, the Province of Alberta announced that they will be taking several measures to address the encampment crisis.
In broad terms, they will be creating a Navigation Centre where anyone in need can enter and seek immediate health care, employment and health services and shelter and housing support. More information about the Navigation Centre and additional supports can be found by clicking here.
Earlier this week Mayor Sohi put forward a motion to create a task force including all levels of government and other stakeholders and identify potential housing solutions and to have City Administration provide a list of quick actions that the City can take. I generally supported these actions.
My goal is to examine every opportunity where the City can contribute to collective solutions. More on this important topic can be found in my recent blog post.
As always, if you have any municipal questions or concerns to share with me, please feel free to contact my office at [email protected] or by calling 780-496-8130.
All the best in 2024 and stay tuned for more updates and events!
Do you like this page?