Acting senior accounting manager for the City of Prince Albert Nasir Kahn addressed the Executive Committee about the proposed tax plan during Monday's meeting. (Screenshot/City of PA)

By paNOW Staff

Tax plan

Executive Committee advances proposed 2025 Property Tax Plan to council for formal approval

Apr 8, 2025 | 3:02 PM

A property tax plan to address the additional $8,557,515 needed to balance the city’s approved operating and capital budgets, and reserve allocations, will be considered by city council on April 28.

That’s when it will be up for formal approval through the property tax bylaws.

On Monday, the executive committee approved the plan to be referred to the next council meeting, however, three readings will be required before the plan is formally approved.

In addition to raising the funds required, the city’s proposed property tax plan is also designed to mitigate the effects of the 2025 revaluation on residential and commercial properties and improve the commercial-to-residential property tax ratio in the city.

Administration made several recommendations including increasing the base tax by $320 for residential properties and $118 for multi-residential properties to help support rising operational costs, which include police and fire. Commercial properties would see increases on a sliding scale.

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Raising the mill rate, the conventional tax tool for cities, would have substantially increased taxes on higher-valued properties.

“Base Tax addresses the market shift and its dramatic impacts on higher-valued homes in Prince Albert. Higher-valued properties will still pay a larger proportion of taxes this year, as the system is designed, but not to the same extent as a mill rate increase alone,” the city wrote on its website.

A home with an assessed value of $200,000 will see a $371 increase this year compared to last. A home with a $350,125 assessed value will see a $409 increase this year.

By changing the tax rate, the city said it is keeping Prince Albert a competitive market for investment by ensuring commercial properties do not bear an excessive property tax burden. It also helps to manage dramatic swings in property tax values for commercial properties as a result of revaluation.

During the meeting, acting senior accounting manager for the City of Prince Albert Nasir Kahn explained that in 2024, 54 per cent of taxes were being raised from residential and 41 per cent were raised from commercial properties. In 2025, total taxes raised from residential properties will be 59.42 per cent and 34.02 per cent will come from commercial, which includes condos in residential.

“As for the number of properties, right now there are a total of 12,392 properties, of which 11,432 are residential – which is 92.25 per cent of properties and 583 are commercial properties, which is 4.7 per cent. Basically, if you look at this, those 4 per cent of [commercial] properties are raising 34 per cent of the taxes,” Kahn said.

In addition to the base tax, administration also recommended increasing the general municipal levy from 11.307 mills to 13.918 mills to help generate the necessary revenue.

The city said the increase in spending this year reflects Prince Albert’s growing population and the rising cost of goods and services.

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