The deadline to pay your property taxes in Revelstoke is coming up July 2.
We had some questions about how property taxes work and reached out to Tania McCabe, director of finance for the city, for some clarification.
We included videos from BC Assessments website for further information.
How many tax slips went out?
4,300
How are property taxes calculated?
Simplistically – The total property tax revenue budgeted for, is divided by the total assessed value to determine the tax rate. Property taxes are calculated by multiplying the tax rate per $1,000 of assessed value.
Does the city use BC Assessments assessed value? If not what do they use?
BC Assessment determines the assessed value for all municipalities in B.C. The City is required, by Provincial legislation, to use the assessed values set by BCAA.
Other than property taxes, what else is included on my tax bill?
Taxes collected on behalf of external taxing authorities (school tax, regional district, hospital district, library, BCAA, Municipal Finance Authority). Utilities are also on the tax notice.
Council only approved a 1 per cent property tax increase, why have my taxes gone up more than that?
The 1 per cent tax increase is based on the prior year’s total assessment values. How much an individual property’s taxes go up is dependent on how much it’s value increased in comparison to the average.
What is available to make my tax bill more manageable?
When you first receive your assessment notice at the beginning of January, review the value BCAA has determined. It is the BCAA’s determination of the market value of your home as of July 1 in the prior year. Compare it to the assessed values that BCAA has determined for other, similar properties. If you think yours is to high (or to low), you can appeal it. The deadline for filing an appeal is Jan. 31.
To ease the annual payment of property taxes, you can sign up for the City’s property tax installment program. This program splits your property taxes into 12 payments that are made monthly, from January to December each year. The deadline for application is April 30.
If you are eligible, claim the home owner grant. This must be done each year. It is considered a payment of property taxes, so if it is done, for a given year, after the property tax payment deadline for that year, a penalty will have to be applied.
The Province offers a property tax deferment program for two groups of property owners:
•Those 55 years of age or older
•Families with children
There are certain criteria that must be met.
If a property owner can’t pay all of their property taxes by the due date, paying as much as they can will help to reduce the penalty that must be applied. The penalty is applied on the balance outstanding after the due date.
How does the increased assessment values in Revelstoke affect the city’s budget?
An increase in assessment values does not affect the City’s budget. If the City does not budget to collect more property taxes in a year when assessment values go up, then the tax rate would go down. For example, If the City’s budget is $10,000,000 the tax rate is adjusted either up or down based on the assessment values to get $10,000,000 in property tax revenues.
How much of the city’s budget is made up of residential property taxes?
Approximately 40 per cent.
READ MORE: Revelstoke raises property taxes 1%
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