The City of Edmonton sent more than 440,000 tax notices this week. Here’s everything you need to know about property taxes, including how the city calculates them and how you can pay for them. How will I receive my property tax notice? It will arrive by mail or email. The city sent them this week and says they will arrive soon. How does the city calculate how much I owe? As an example, the city says a typical single-detached home assessed at $492,500 will pay about $426 a month. Around 75 per cent of that, or $318, funds city services, and the rest, about $108, goes to the province to fund schools. For more information on the city’s assessment and taxation process, click here. Municipal property taxes went up by 6.9 per cent this year, while the provincial education tax went up by 10.2 per cent for residential properties and 2.6 per cent for non-residential properties. What city services do my taxes fund? The full list of services is here. It includes things like transit, police and fire, parks and roads, planning and infrastructure, and libraries. “Property taxes fund the services residents see around them every day and we encourage property owners to look for and review their property tax notice,” said Director of Taxation Anton Szabo. “Over $2.5 billion in property taxes enables city employees to deliver services including emergency services, parks, trails, roads, bridges, transit, recreation centres, attractions and social supports.” When do I have to pay, and how do I do that? The deadline is June 30. You can pay at most banks, online banking, by mail or phone. You can also create a monthly payment plan. How do I create a monthly payment plan? More than 150,000 property owners do this. The city provides the information on each notice and online. The application deadline for payment plans is June 15 to start making payments in July. “We encourage property owners to sign up for the monthly payment plan as soon as they can,” Szabo said. “Over a third of all property owners pay monthly using direct withdrawals, and it’s a really convenient way to break up your property tax payments without worrying about payment deadlines.” What else do I need to know? If you haven’t received your tax notice by June 3, contact 311. Paperless subscribers can see their notice here.
