Property assessments in Rocky View County have gone up 3.9 per cent.
During a council meeting March 26, staff presented an assessment update for the 2013 tax year to council.
Overall, assessments went up 3.9 percent or $545 million. Of that increase, 3.3 per cent is attributed to growth and the remainder from inflationary growth.
Fifty-three per cent of live growth in 2012 was from non-residential properties.
“In this economy, we see live growth of 3.3 per cent. I think that’s good news,” said councillor Greg Boehlke, adding that it showed that businesses are coming into the county and diversifying the tax base.
Councillor Lois Habberfield agreed.
“We are moving in the direction we have been told we should go in,” she said of increasing the county’s non-residential tax base.
She said while the county values farm land, they do not bring in a lot of taxes, so the money needs to come from residential and non-residential development. She said in the past, residential development has been taking up about 79 per cent of growth, so it’s good to see the change.
Council has yet to determine the mill rate. Assessments can be viewed online at rockyview.ca.
