Condominium owners who argue they should pay a lower property tax rate are too often focused on the utilities they don’t use rather than the services paid for through their property taxes, says a City of St. Albert report.
Presented to the standing committee on finance (SCOF) Monday night, the report spells out the reasons why the city doesn’t tax condos at a lower rate, historically a sticking point with condominium owners.
Those who live in condos say they shouldn’t have to pay for services they don’t use, such as snow removal or maintenance. But Greg Dahlen, director of assessment and taxation services, said all properties in St. Albert – even nationwide – are assessed on the principle of their value, not on the use or availability of services.
And while condo residents might not partake in the city’s snow clearing services, they still use city roads and other services such as fire services and police and use other infrastructure that require maintenance and upkeep, Dahlen said.
“The city offers numerous services to improve quality of life and those services are available to all properties,” Dahlen said, also pointing out not everyone in Alberta or Canada uses all provincial and federal services at any given time, yet all are funded through other taxes like income tax or the education levy.
Mayor Nolan Crouse pointed out many of the complaints focus on utilities instead of services included in taxation, which are billed separately.
“Now we get into recycling and waste and that becomes a choice. If they go with the city for collection, the city provides it and charges the condo association,” Crouse said. “Those are utilities, not taxes.”
The city surveyed 20 other municipalities in Alberta and found none tax condos at a lesser rate, Dahlen said.
While council can create different sub-groups and tax them differently, condos are typically assessed at a lower value than a single-family home. The average assessment value for a condo is $250,000, compared to the average $411,000 for a single-family home. Once the mill rate is applied, the condo owner pays $1,122 less in property tax.
Furthermore, Dahlen said, any shift to decrease the tax rate for condos would ultimately lead to a higher tax rate for single-family homeowners.
“A decrease in condo taxes would then be picked up by the other sub-groups,” Dahlen said. “So there is no net tax lowering effect. It’s just a redistribution. Single-family homeowners then subsidize condos.”
There are currently 94 complexes with 4,340 units in St. Albert, compared to 16,733 single-family units.
Coun. Len Bracko was particularly interested in the status of roadways contained within condo complexes, arguing that any roads should be built to city standards and the title should be handed over to the city.
“Many of them are a road like any other road,” Bracko said. “I guess I’m against that type of situation.”
Dahlen said he knew of no instances in which a municipality took title of a road in a condo complex, most notably because a road is not separate from the parcel of land on which it is built.
“It is part of the common property owned by all the condo owners in there,” he said.
