With Alberta’s education property tax amounts going up for every municipality, more communities close to Calgary are running the numbers and preparing residents for triple-digit tax hikes. Chestermere is seeing the highest provincial tax requisition increase by percentage of any city in Alberta, with the amount climbing by 31 per cent overall. The average homeowner in Chestermere will pay about $300 more this year to the province. “Now 45 per cent of the tax bill is going to the province, meaning that only 55 per cent of that tax bill actually remains in Chestermere for us to be able to utilize for our municipal infrastructure and for what it costs for us to run the municipality,” said Shannon Dean, Chestermere’s mayor. “It’s certainly going to have a big impact on our residents,” he told CTV News. Airdrie is also receiving a significant hike. The overall requisition amount for that city is rising by 19 per cent, meaning the average Airdrie homeowner will see a $259 jump in property taxes going to the Alberta government. “Affordability is huge (and) people do find a way. I think, in Airdrie, the critical thing to understand is that our community is so vocal about getting more schools here. A lot of our schools have been bursting at the seams for quite some time,” said Airdrie Mayor Heather Spearman. Both cities are getting help with education space. Chestermere and Airdrie are in line to receive school construction funding from the province. Premier Danielle Smith defended the education property tax hike, saying there’s a price to pay to cover growth. “They wanted us to build more schools, they wanted us to address issues of complexity,” Smith said Thursday. “I think property owners understand that, on one hand, they pay taxes to the municipality to do municipal things, like fixe roads and potholes and snow clear and fix water pipes. And they also pay money to the province to be able to make sure their kids get a great education,” she said. The mayors acknowledge it’s a big tax hike for residents, but say communication is already underway to educate taxpayers on the difference between municipal and provincial property taxes and where the money goes. “When we talk about people kind of swallowing that pill, it’s more about people probably recognizing the fact that Airdrie desperately needs education supports, not just from a building standpoint, but we need more teachers, we need more supports for the kids that are struggling,” Spearman said.
