Property taxes going up in Medicine Hat
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MEDICINE HAT, AB – Property taxes will be going up by 4 per cent this year and next – as city council struggles to replace lost revenue due to the drop in energy prices.
But Mayor Ted Clugston says even with the tax increases, this city will still have an advantage over others in Alberta. Clugston says Medicine Hat will still have the lowest taxes of any major municipality in the country. Comparing this city to Grande Prairie, the mayor says a 3 per cent tax increase here amounts to $30 or $40 per years. In Grande Prairie it would be three times that amount.
Clugston says unlike other levels of government, the city of Medicine Hat won’t run a deficit or borrow money to pay for day to day operations.
The city is looking to cut it’s dependance on the energy dividend each year to zero, over the next several years. Council felt it’s wrong to rely on something that’s not always going to be there to run the city’s day to day operations.
