Annual spending priorities for the City are set each year through the budget process. Although we continue to find efficiencies in our operations and do more with less, new projects, additional service levels and rising costs of doing business often require budget increases funded through taxation.
2023 Priorities
2023 Tax Insert - What your tax dollars pay for
As a City, we are focusing on building a better Prince Albert. In 2023, budget has been identified to fund new projects like a new playground at Midtown Community Club, upgrades to Little Red River Park including 4 accessible outdoor washrooms and a warm-up shelter, a design for the boat launch on River Street East and West to improve access, Cooke Golf Pathway improvements, two new roadways/snow operator crew members, three new fire fighters to achieve minimum staffing on 4 platoons, a new IT position to support implementation of new projects and another $4.1 million in paving for City streets.
| 2023 Residential Property Tax Impact | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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In 2023, the property tax increase will include a 2.86% mill rate increase and an increase to the Snow Management Special Tax and the Roadways Special Tax. The increase to the Snow Management Special Tax increase will fund two new positions for the roadways crew to support improved snow management response to requests for service and coordination of work. The Roadways Special Tax will increase to include the annual $4.1 Roadways Paving Program along with the annual $300,000 approved for Concrete Sidewalk, Curb and Median Rehabilitation Program.
With the combination of special taxes increase and mill rate increase, the higher valued properties will pay more but at a reduced pace than what would be experienced with a mill rate increase alone.
The impact of the increased Special Taxes are as follows:
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| Base Taxes, Special Taxes and Mill Rates | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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We use a combination of tax tools to raise revenues necessary to fund operations. In Prince Albert, the unique nature of the housing market has resulted in base taxes being used more often to reduce the tax load being carried by fewer higher valued homes.
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| Understanding Base Taxes, Special Taxes and Levies | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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The property tax system is designed to apply taxes according to value of your home. This is called the ad valorem system. The general principle is that the higher the value the property, the higher the property taxes. Different types of tax tools are available to cities to provide some flexibility in how tax rates are applied:
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Understanding your Property Tax Notice |
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Below is a breakdown of all the parts of the Property Tax Notice. The PDF is also available for download here.
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General Tax Rate Information
| Property Tax Bylaws |
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The following property tax bylaws are in place for 2023. Property Tax Bylaw The Property Tax Bylaw raises the amount of taxes for General Municipal, Library and Capital Project Levies. It also has the current rates for base taxes, minimum tax and Destination Marketing Levy for Hotels. Snow Management Special Tax Bylaw The Snow Management Special Tax Bylaw establishes the rate of tax to raises funds to cover the expenses of the City’s snow management operations. Roadways Special Tax Bylaw The Roadways Special Tax Bylaw sets the rate of tax to raises funds to cover the annual paving program. Police Special Tax Bylaw The Police Special Tax Bylaw provides the rate of tax to raise funds to cover expenses in the proactive policing unit. Business Improvement District Levy Bylaw The Business Improvement District Levy Bylaw establishes the rate of tax to raise funds for the Prince Albert Down Business Improvement District’s activities. This levy is applied to properties located in the Downtown Business Improvement District area, defined in Bylaw No. 4 of 2005. Property Tax Incentive and Penalties Bylaw Our Property Tax Incentive and Penalties Bylaw identifies all the due dates of taxes, the interest charges, our TIPPS incentive as well as our discount for early payments. |
| School Taxes |
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The City of Prince Albert is required by legislation to bill and collect school taxes on behalf of the Province. You can make a declaration of whether your education property tax dollars will support the Public School or the Separate School. School board taxes do not have a mill rate factor associated with them. Please see our property tax bylaw to see all the rates associated with your tax notice. |
| Property Tax Estimates |
| Exact taxes for any particular property are not provided. You can find an approximation of taxes by using the property tax estimate calculator. To use the calculator you need to click on Assessment Online, you will need to know the assessed value of a property. |
| Property Ownership |
| If you would like to find out who the owner of a property is, please contact Information Services Corporation. |
| Property Tax Relief |
| Property tax relief may be considered if it meets the criteria listed in the Property Tax Relief Policy. |
