City Notebook: Property tax talk worse than watching paint dry, but here goes nothin’
By COLLIN GALLANT on March 7, 2020.
cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant Writing about tax assessment is a sure way to send eyeballs skipping southward to the 100-years-ago section of this column. That said, some examination is needed to soothe the scalps of those head scratchers who wondered about an explanation reported this week as to why taxpayers in the Hat will face higher education taxes compared to other municipalities. It’s partly to do with the peculiar way property taxes are determined and collected, and partly due, provincial officials say, to a strong property market in the Gas City. Both cause confusion; property taxes generally, and the building boom specifically. Believe it our not, there was a commercial construction boom in the Hat in 2018 – the year that Alberta Municipal Affairs uses to determine this year’s funding request. On the south side, a new commercial plaza went up in place of the former Walmart Supercentre. There were also changes to how hotels and the Medicine Hat Mall were assessed. A 200-unit apartment building was the largest residential project here in 12 years. But it’s a positively dizzying task to explain or hear about how property taxes work. City administrators took the opportunity last December to include assessment growth in their projections for the 2020 municipal tax increase (that moved the needle to 3.5 per cent from an expected 4 per cent, even with less money coming in from the province after the fall budget). The announcement this month about assessment notices going out made no mention of the change in assessment. That’s usually trotted out when the tax rate is set as a final adjustment, and the implication – conscious or not – is that local government worked hard to come in with a lower rate that expected, or at least that’s how critics see it. More on this next month when rates are finalized. A look ahead The final report on the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge is set to be released this week. There will be more news about city investment policy and potentially large news about land development in the city. 100 years ago Alberta MLAs voted down a motion calling for the abolition of the Canadian Senate, the News reported on March 6, 1920. Premier Stewart expressed that it was a matter better taken up by the federal House of Commons as the vote counted 31-12 against with some breaks from party lines. The motion, put forward by Calgary MLA W.M. Davidson, asked that since the Senate was an undemocratic body, “not responsible in any manner to the Canadian People,” Ottawa should seek changes in the British North America Act to abolish it. A group of floor crossers, including several high pro-life MPs from the Prairies, took to calling themselves the “National Progressive Party.” Former Medicine Hat MP, W.A. Buchanan (Lethbridge), also announced he would no longer support the Union Government, which he said had outlived its mission as a wartime necessity. Charges of sedation laid against the head of the Medicine Hat city workers union, Percy Currie, were dropped. The local labour leader’s residence was overturned in the fall by the NWMP who confiscated several pamphlets listed in a war cabinet order of banned political literature. Since that order was rescinded on Jan. 1, Crown prosecutor Ivan Rand recommended no charge. City police would enforce a new regulation that barred wearing of military uniforms by those not entitled to. Former soldiers were required to remove all buttons and insignia as “not to deceive” when using the garments as common clothes. A new animal had been created via the cross breeding of buffalo and cattle, an auction company had announced. The firm promoted the heartiness of the animal that was to be known as the “Catallo.” Collin Gallant covers city politics and a variety of topics for the News. Reach him at 403-528-5664 or via email at cgallant@medicinehatnews.com 23-22
