Property values across Fort Saskatchewan are up, which could mean higher property taxes.
The city recently underwent its annual process of evaluating property values, with a report on the findings being presented to council last week.
"We had assessment growth within residential [homes]," said Shannon Andruchow, the manager of budget and financial planning for Fort Saskatchewan.
"The total growth was $123 million."
The large increase might seem a bit surprising, but Andruchow says inflation had a big influence on the sharp rise.
"If you are talking about residential property values, they went up due to inflation because of the market last year," said Andruchow. "Our assessment is based on the previous year, so whatever happened in the market [back in] July, that is what determined the inflation."
The inflation rate that the assessment was working off of for residential property values was set at 5.6 percent for single-family homes. 4.1 percent for a single-family attached home, and -0.3% for condominiums.
The average assessed value for these properties looked like this:
- $426,500 for a single-family detached home
- $309,000 for a single-family attached home
- $194,200 for a condominium
The rise was also influenced by the 141 new single-family homes and 61 new duplex or fourplex dwellings that were built over the past year.
There were also 381 new residential lots located in Windsor Pointe, Forest Ridge, Southpointe Sienna, and Southfort Meadows included in this year's assessment.
Higher property values could have an impact on what residents will be paying when it comes to their property taxes.
According to Andruchow, next to no residential properties saw a decrease in value.
"Overall, in residential, all the properties increased. it's all relative, if one property increased more than another, that property that increased will see a bit more of a tax shifted to them."
On the industrial side of things, heavy industry saw an increase of $187 million in the assessment while light commercial industry saw a smaller rise of $15.3 million.
Property tax notices are expected to be mailed out to residents on May 19 with payments being due on June 30.