County of Barrhead council writes off half of province's property taxes

BARRHEAD - County of Barrhead councillors reluctantly wrote off nearly $15,000 in property taxes the provincial government owes the municipality during their Aug. 20 meeting by a 5-1 vote.

Coun. Bill Lane was opposed, and Coun. Jared Stoik was absent.

Finance director Tamara Molzahn called the item a housekeeping matter, saying councillors had little choice but to cancel the taxes.

"The province does not pay property tax on its properties," she said.

However, she said the province gives municipalities grants instead of taxes.

Regrettably, she said, they do not pay what is owed.

"At one time, they did," Molzahn said, adding that at one time, the provincial grant was 100 per cent of the value.

The grant was reduced to 75 per cent of property tax value in 2019, and in 2020, the Government of Alberta (GOA) reduced it even further to 50 per cent.

The county has 91 GOA-owned properties, amounting to just under $30,000 in property tax owed at 100 per cent value.

"So, it is pretty nominal," Walter Preugschas said.

Reeve Doug Drozd agreed but said the amount isn't the issue.

"It is the principle of the thing. [The province] is doing it to save themselves some money. They are being fiscally responsible to Alberta taxpayers by not paying out this vast amount of money to rich and greedy counties like us," he said facetiously. "It is the same thing in oil and gas; it is straightforward to squeeze every little bit of juice out of the counties [referring to the province letting energy companies off the hook in paying their municipal taxes.]"

Deputy reeve Marvin Schatz asked what properties GOA had in the county.

"The Connor Creek grazing lease, plus some of the land in the forest protection area, such as Holmes Crossing," Molzahn said, adding the properties had relatively little taxable area.

Property tax penalty exemption list

Councillors also approved a list of 418 properties exempt from paying tax penalties.

Ninety-four of the properties belong to either the provincial (84), municipal (two) or federal (one) governments that do not pay property tax.

However, Molzahn said most properties are the ones enrolled in the municipality's tax instalment payment plan (TIPP) program and are in good standing at 322.

"Last year, we had 16 [tax rolls] on TIPP that were not in good standing and were in arrears," she said, adding that TIPP ratepayers are charged penalties on the arrears portion of their taxes.

Barry Kerton, TownandCountryToday.com