More than 1,200 delegates from more than 260 cities, towns and villages across the province are in Calgary this week for the 2025 Alberta Municipalities Convention and Trade Show, with some communities seeking provincial property tax reform.
The annual conference includes networking and workshops for local officials, but it’s also a chance for communities to put forward resolutions on issues of interest and concern to local leaders.
“If a resolution comes to the floor and it’s voted on and it’s approved, it becomes a priority issue for our organization to conduct advocacy on that resolution,” said Alberta Municipalities chief executive officer Dana Mackie.
Among the 14 resolutions up for debate is a call from the Town of Rocky Mountain House for the province to take over collection of provincial education property taxes, which are currently collected by municipalities on annual tax bills.
It comes after the provincial government increased how much revenue it takes in from the education property tax by 14.8 per cent, to $3.1 billion, with a target of $3.6 billion by 2027.
The resolution argues that increases in the education tax requisition can lead to “misunderstandings among taxpayers regarding municipal tax increases.”
“Every time there’s a tax increase, people are upset about it,” said newly elected Rocky Mountain House mayor Shane Boniface. “I don’t want to be taking the brunt for what the provincial government is doing.”
Collection of the provincial education property tax also places financial risk and burden of tax collection on local administrations, the resolution said.
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Earlier this year, Calgary’s previous mayor and city council sent the Government of Alberta an invoice for $10 million in an effort to recoup the costs of collecting the provincial share of property taxes.
“I think there needs to be some accountability within the province to be able to take this on,” said Rebecca Wells, deputy mayor at the Town of Mayerthorpe, which seconded the resolution. “We do the books, we do the work for them and yet we’re the ones who get the residents who are upset.”
The increase in the provincial education property tax resulted in Edmontonians paying an additional $92 per year.
In Calgary, the provincial requisition was more than $1 billion, and resulted in an additional $239 per year for homeowners.
The typical single-family homeowner in Calgary saw a property tax increase of $29.25 per month this year, however, budget documents show just $11 of that monthly increase was going to the City of Calgary with the rest going to the province.
Calgary mayor Jeromy Farkas said he would “strongly support” a measure to reform how provincial property taxes are collected.
“When huge increases have been made to the education tax, the provincial portion, it’s absolutely right for Calgarians to ask where that money is going,” he said Wednesday.
In a statement to Global News, Alberta’s municipal affairs minister Dan Williams said municipalities in Alberta have collected education property taxes on behalf of the province for decades, and that it is “not a new responsibility.”
“These funds are a critical and transparent source of revenue that help support the operating costs of schools in every community across the province,” Williams said.
However, Williams added the province is considering “what role a new provincial tax collection agency could play in shifting the collection of property taxes to the province,” as part of work underway by the Alberta Next Panel.
Rocky Mountain House’s resolution will mark the fourth time since 2011 that Alberta Municipalities have debated reforms to provincial property tax collection, with the most recent resolution from the Town of Drayton Valley on the matter approved in 2020.
“Nothing gets solved quickly in politics,” Boniface said. “It could take a few years to get there, but if we don’t keep trying we’ll never get there.”
The resolution will be up for a vote at the conference on Thursday, which will also include a session with remarks from Alberta Premier Danielle Smith.
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