Property taxes are a sore subject every year in municipalities as wide and varied as the City of Edmonton to the Town of St. Paul to the Village of Vilna.
Understandably, nobody wants to see their payments increase, but bills tend to go up every year, with an increase in assessments and/or tax rates. Adding insult to injury for ratepayers is when they see increases on their property tax bills, but cannot see a corresponding level of service increase, whether it is in sidewalk improvements, parks, road clearance, better recycling services, etc.
People pay attention to how changes hit them in their pockets. They may not know or realize the increasing burden being passed to municipalities from the province, both in cuts to grants, increases to the education tax and now, the incoming carbon tax. Doubtless, municipal belts are going to have to tighten further and more painfully with the latter. If property taxes look ugly to you now, brace for worse to cover the cost of increasing fuel and utility bills.
When the Journal posed the question on Facebook about what people thought of their property taxes, there was a mostly negative response, with many people complaining about the increases they have seen but others also questioning political or administrative decisions that have led to these increases.
There are several ways of voicing discontent, but none should involve yelling at or threatening councillors or administrators. Running a municipality is an immense responsibility that requires a thick skin, and much credit goes to the people that offer their time and dedication to their communities, in what must be a thankless task at times (particularly property tax assessment time!)
Another way people can address what they see as shortcomings in councils are to run for office. Forty-eight people put their names forward to run in Saddle Lake elections for chief and council, while 38 were declared eligible to run, which is an impressive number compared to the eight that ran for the last Town of St. Paul election, or the seven that ran for the County of St. Paul elections in 2013. If people feel they may be capable of finding creative solutions to problems, and making do with less, they may be able to contribute to their municipality by running for office, an option they may want to consider in advance of the challenges that municipalities will face in the year ahead.
