Property Assessment and Taxation: A guide for Alberta’s Municipal Leaders

Municipal governments rely on property taxation as their primary source of revenue for funding municipal services, so it’s important that municipal elected and administrative leaders have a solid grasp of the property tax system. It’s complicated to explain to the public when justifying your budgets and tax rates. 

This toolkit covers a lot of territory. It covers information on property assessment, equalized assessment, the complaint system, the differences between municipal property tax and provincial property tax, and includes simple examples to demonstrate how each tax is calculated. You might choose to skim the sections you’re already familiar with or keep the toolkit handy to help answer questions you or your constituents might have. It’s very useful as a reference, with FAQs, definitions, calculations and more. 

After going through this toolkit, visit our Property Taxes Reimagined webpage. Alberta Municipalities has developed this valuable resource to help explain property taxes, their shortcomings, and the external factors beyond council’s control that affect them. This page includes short videos, printable explainers, and case studies. You are welcome to recommend our Property Taxes Reimagined web content to any of your residents who may take an interest in changes to property tax rates.