Property taxes in Smithers are going up but not by as much as originally forecasted.
The overall general municipal tax rate increase for 2023 was set at 5.2 per cent. This includes a 1.8 per cent increase in funding for RCMP Officers; 1.1 per cent increase in funding for paving roads and a 2.3 per cent increase to maintain municipal services.
In 2022, a typical Smithers home per the BC Assessment Authority was valued at $438,000 for property tax purposes. In 2023, the property is valued at $498,000. In 2022, the property owner paid municipal taxes of $1,759. In 2023, they will pay municipal taxes of approximately $1,854 or a $96 increase.
Earlier this year, when the finance committee was meeting, it was projected taxes would go up anywhere between six and almost nine per cent. However, Director of Finance William Wallace said scenarios were considered to include sharing of the municipal tax burden over the property tax classes and the benefit arising from new non-market assessment value.
“Changes in ‘non-market assessment value’ usually arise from new construction or the reclassification of a property between classes – say from non-profit to commercial,” Wallace explained to The Interior News. “The result is there are new or more properties over which to share the total 2023 tax burden. In 2023, council has shared the benefit of non-market value change across the property classes.”
The Five-Year Financial Plan Bylaw and 2023 Tax Rate Bylaw were given first, second and third readings at the April 25 regular meeting of council and are scheduled for adoption at the next meeting on May 9.
“At the end of the day, everything fell together beautifully,” Wallace told council. “I certainly didn’t expect us to be at this level and do all the things that are being done here at 5.2 per cent. So in the realm of what we know we’ve read in the media and people we know in local government elsewhere have told us that’s pretty much as good as it gets.”
By comparison, Prince Rupert property owners are seeing a 12.5 per cent increase, in Terrace it is 10.3 per cent and in Telkwa 12 per cent. Kitmat and Houston are lower at 3.75 and 4.0 per cent respectively.
READ MORE: Telkwa proposes 12 per cent tax increase
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