FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. – Fort St. John city council is moving forward with a slight increase in property tax rates for 2022.
On Monday, council gave the first reading of the tax rate bylaw and is required to vote on the final two readings by May 15th.
Under the bylaw, property taxes would increase from 5.1797 percent in 2021 for residential properties to 5.1865.
In the budget’s first draft presented in January, the chief financial officer David Joy proposed a 5.15 per cent residential rate but said property values could go down in April, resulting in a tax increase.
The bylaw establishes the rates needed to meet the tax revenue approved in the 2022 Financial Plan for the City and the Peace River Regional District, the Peace River Regional Hospital and B.C. Transit.
Once the bylaw is adopted and the school tax rate is received, the property tax notices will be generated, said the city’s report to council.
According to a report by the CFO back in January, the administration was faced with several challenges with the 2022 operating budget.
These include pulling $586,000 from reserves to balance the 2021 budget, additional staffing coming in at $393,000, salary and wage grid increases totalling $444,000, lower return on investments, and “own source revenue” not fully recovering from the pandemic.
Joy said that the city has used up the $3.77 million in federal restart grant funding in 2020 and 2021.
The city budgeted $27.07 million for employee salaries, wages, and benefits in 2022, an increase of $1.4 million from 2021.
Additional costs in this year’s budget include RCMP costs at $1.7 million, transit costs at $393,000 and insurance costs at $140,000.
The report notes that the new RCMP detachment is expected to come with additional staffing and contracting service costs when it opens in 2023.
Tax rates in Fort St. John only cover the cost of the city’s operating budget. The capital budget that funds projects like the new RCMP detachment or new infrastructure is funded by the capital budget.
The capital budget is funded through the Peace River Agreement with the Province of B.C. and other grants.
Below are the tax rates set by the City of Fort St. John for 2022. The rates below do not include any property taxes collected on behalf of other agencies like the school district. You can see a list of all the other agencies that collect taxes by clicking here.
2022 Tax Rates
- Residential – 5.1865
- Utilities – 40.000
- Major Industrial – 28.7817
- Light Industrial – 26.2921
- Business – 14.5923
- Recreation – 10.9317
- Farm – 1.5560
2021 Tax Rates
- Residential – 5.1797
- Utilities – 40.000
- Major Industrial – 28.7437
- Light Industrial – 26.2575
- Business – 14.5731
- Recreation – 10.9173
- Farm – 1.5539
