Fort St. John council passes 2024 tax rate bylaw

FORT ST. JOHN— At a special meeting on May 6th, Fort St. John council passed the tax rate bylaw based on the city’s 2024 financial plan by title only. 

The bylaw establishes the raised tax rate revenue approved in the city’s 2024 financial plan, as well as tax requisitions.

According to the city’s communications manager, Ryan Harvey, BC Assessment’s value for every property in the city was $3.958 billion in April. The final assessed value is $3.955 billion, or a decrease of about $3.5 million. 

“Tax rates are a calculation between assessed values and revenue required, so changes in the final assessed values can have a slight impact on the final tax rates,” said Harvey. 

The bylaw increases the tax rate for residential property by approximately three per cent, or from $5.356 in 2023 to $5.5902 in 2024 for every $1,000 of taxable value.

“This will equate to an increase of approximately $73.21 for an average property value of $341,852 compared to 2023,” said Harvey.  

Harvey says the city’s tax bill also includes requisitions from other agencies such as BC Transit, Peace River Regional District, and the provincial school tax. 

“Approximately 57 per cent of the tax bill goes to the City of Fort St. John, while the remaining is split between the other agencies. These rates are required to be included in our tax rate bylaw but are provided by the agency,” said Harvey.

According to a report to council, the bylaw will be adopted along with tax notice distributions in May. 

The tax rates established by bylaw will used to calculate individual annual tax notices. 

A public meeting was held on February 26th, 2024, to discuss the operating budget, including information on required tax revenue and estimated taxation.

The bylaw can be viewed below: