Town’s proposed budget shows
tax and utility increase

By Kaicheng Xin
Staff Reporter

On Nov. 27, Rocky Mountain House town council met to discuss the proposed 2025 budget and, if ratified by a vote of council, property taxes will increase in the new year along with town utilities.

“We are trying to be really respectful, but we are in the same boat as every other business or organization that is providing services and products. The cost has all gone up. I mean, we’ve all seen it in the grocery store,” said Betty Quinlan, director of corporate services for the town. “We’d love to hold the line, but unless we want to reduce the amount of services we provide, we can’t.”

To break it down, the average proposed residential property taxes for 2025 are:
Single-family home: $2,732 (up from $2,681)
Duplex: $1,935 (up from $1,899)
Townhouse: $2,055 (up from $2,016)
Apartment condo: $1,920 (up from $1,903)
Mobile home on own lot: $1,555 (up from $1,542)
Mobile home in park: $390 (up from $387)

Utilities fees will also increase. Quinlan stated that a 5.17 percent increase is planned for water services, from $57.20 this year to $60.16 in 2025, and a 31.49 per cent increase for sewer services, from $44.01 this year to $57.87 in 2025, largely due to the town’s new wastewater treatment plant and the associated increase in costs.
“The province said we have to implement this, so really we had no choice. It wasn’t something we decided that we wanted to do,” said Quinlan.

For solid waste, there will be a decrease in fees. The administration is seeking to reduce the fee to $24 instead of the current $28.62.

Councillor Dale Shippelt questioned whether the town should consider dropping the base fee and raising the fee per cubic metre, as more water usage puts more pressure on the system, including the water treatment plant and lines, so large water users should pay more.

“So, it is a penalty for low water users,” he said. “For a user-pay system, those who use more should pay more in terms of infrastructure.”

Dean Krause, the town’s chief administrative officer, explained that the base charge should cover the town’s utilities and staffing and the fees per cubic metre should cover the cost of production. He added that the administration would be happy to investigate how Innisfail manages its fees.

Council voted to accept these items as information.