In less than a month, city council will be debating the property tax rate for 2011.
But the general tax rate set by the city is only a part of the total property tax bill property owners will get in June.
In 2011 there will be 11 seperate line items making up the total tax rate for properties in Prince George. The City of Prince George, Regional District of Fraser-Fort George, provincial government, Municipal Finance Authority, B.C. Assessment Authority, Fraser-Fort George Regional Hospital District and Fraser-Fort George 911 Service each have a hand in setting the property tax rate.
See the pie graph on this page for a breakdown of where your property tax dollars go.
In addition, there are nine different property classes each with a different tax rate.
City financial services manager Sandra Stibrany met with the Citizen to explain how the 2011 tax rates will be set.
"In February city council approved a budget, which determined how much tax we need to collect," Stibrany said.
Council approved a budget requiring a total of $76.4 million in property taxes to be collected, up from $73.4 million in 2010. Of the $76.4 million, $67 million will go to general revenue, $5 million to snow control, $3 million for road rehabilitation and $1.3 million for the Canada Winter Games capital levy.
The city's finance and audit committee, and ultimately city council, will then determine how to distribute the tax burden across the nine property classes.
"This year I've presented seven options to them," Stibrany said. "One of those options is to continue with approach council took last year by lowering the burden on heavy industry, which raises it elsewhere."
Another option Stibrany presented is to maintain the current 2010 tax burden distribution. See the graph on this page for the percentages paid by each property class.
Once the distribution percentages are set, a tax rate is set for each property class to collect the appropriate amount of taxes, Stibrany said. To calculate the tax rate, city staff look at the total assessed value of properties in each class.
The city's finance and audit committee will review the seven options presented by Stibrany, and make its recomendations to city council for approval.
"We have a deadline. It has to be approved by May 15. And it has to go through two council meetings to be approved," Stibrany said. "The first reading will be May 2 and the second on May 9."
In addition to the city's general tax rate and special levies, the city is responsible for collecting property taxes for the other agencies which collect property taxes.
"They are required to have them to us in April," she said. "The regional district, 911 and regional hospital district will send us a dollar amount to collect. For the school tax, Municipal Finance Authority and B.C. Assessment, they send us a rate."
Once the rates are given final approval, the bills are printed and put in the mail.
