Wood Buffalo council gives residents break on taxes, water bills during flood, pandemic

Fort McMurrayresidents are getting a little financial relief after the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo council lowered property taxes and waived some water fees on Tuesday.

Council approved the reduction which results in a $168 million decrease in property taxescompared to 2019 at a council meeting Tuesday night.

It also approved a bylaw to defer tax payments until Sept. 30 and late penalties until Oct. 1.

Fort McMurray residents will also see a lower water bill in the coming months as council approved a motion to waive the meter size charges on residents' bills. People will still be charged for the water they use.

The changes to the taxes and fees were meant to ease financial strains community members could be facing as a result of the pandemic, flood and economic downturn,Linda Ollivier, director of financial services, said Tuesday.

Although tax rates will increase slightly,most people will pay less because both commercial and residential property tax assessments have dropped significantly.

Ollivier said market values in the region have continued to decline.

"Overall on the assessments, there has been a decrease in every sector and every class," she said.

She said that all sectors saw a decrease in property assessments as compared to 2019.

Assessments for urban single family homes will see a fourper cent decrease, urban vacant residential lots will have a 10 per cent decrease, strip malls will see a 19 per cent decrease and apartments will have a 20 per cent decrease.

For example, a house valued at $525,000 in 2019 would see thehomeownerpay $2,607 in taxes.In 2020, the house value would have dropped to about $502,800 and the taxes in turn would drop to $2,266, representing a 13 per cent drop.

Most of the decrease is related to the education portion of the property tax bill, according to documents provided to council. In March, the Alberta government announced it was freezing the education tax to reduce financial pressure on businesses and homeowners.

The reduction will be passed along to the oilsands industry, and Oil Sands Community Alliance representative Karim Zariffa said that's a welcome relief to the industry.

"Due to the pandemic, the global economy has basically shut down and dramatically decreased demand on oil," said Zariffa."The future prices aren't expected to rebound until 2021."

He said there have been many projects slowed or shut down in the region.

"The only thing that can help the oilsands industry right now is cash to keep things operating and to keep people employed."