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Lethbridge city council hears presentation on property taxes

Lethbridge City Council receiving a report this week on property taxes and assessments.

The amount of taxes home and business owners pay in the city is one of the hottest topics new City Manager Bramwell Strain has heard since he took the job one year ago.

He says it certainly is something that needs to be looked at. “According to various sources, we are (Lethbridge) the second-highest taxed municipality in the province. That’s not sustainable. So obviously for resident comfort for what they pay for taxes it’s important they get value for the money they’re paying. Clearly the first thing we have to do when we are looking at increasing services or tax rates, is look at ourselves (the City).”

Council was shown a slide Monday which indicated that 64% of the property taxes collected at City Hall come from residential taxpayers.

Strain says with 35,000 plus actual homes in the city, that does make some sense. “But certainly at the same time businesses are saying how come we’re at 2.35 times the rate of residential? Clearly we want to continue to attract and grow business so we have to be competitive.”

The City Manager notes he hears about the property tax concerns very regularly.

An city-wide operational review is underway to try and find efficiencies from within and Strain says we should see that come out this fall.

Patrick Siedlecki
Patrick Siedlecki
Pat has been a mainstay in the CJOC News department from the time the station launched in 2007. He's been in the position of News Director since then and has been anchoring daily news casts as well as reporting and working behind the scenes. Community is important to him and keeping CJOC listeners and readers informed about what's happening across southern Alberta and beyond. Pat has been in radio broadcasting for the past 24 years, starting in Port Alberni on Vancouver Island in 1997 and then moving up island to Nanaimo for another few years before heading to Lethbridge in 2007. Pat grew up in the small Saskatchewan farming town of Foam Lake. After high school, he went to Western Academy Broadcasting College (WABC) in Saskatoon prior to moving to the island. Pat also spent several years broadcasting hockey in the BCHL as well as seven years as the radio voice of the Lethbridge Hurricanes in the WHL. Pat has been working at Cornerstone Funeral Home in Lethbridge as a Certified Life Celebrant and Funeral Assistant since 2016. News and sports have always been Pat's passion from the time he was a teenager and he's always been grateful to have had the opportunity to make that part of what's been a fun and long radio career!
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