First reading passed for Vauxhall tax rate bylaw

Posted on May 8, 2025 by Vauxhall Advance

By Nikki Jamieson
Vauxhall Advance
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

First reading of Vauxhall’s tax rate bylaw for 2025 has been passed.

The proposed Bylaw 1008-25, or the Property Tax bylaw, would authorize the town to levy certain rates of taxation against assessable property within town limits for the 2025 taxation year. Speaking on the bylaw, Vauxhall CFO Clark Holt said that the town’s expenses were likely going to go up by 2.5 per cent more, and he would like to collect 2.5 per cent more from residents compared to last year. For non-residential, he had it increased by 5.5 per cent.

But, the town has seen some development in the past year, and inflation on existing homes in Vauxhall have gone up about 11.7 per cent. So Holt said he built a formula taking into account that they want to collect more tax, but account for new homes and businesses.

“If I don’t change the mill rate, that family is going to be paying 11.7 (per cent) more tax,” said Holt. “So my (formula) actually proposes that we lower the mill rate down to 6.8 – it’s currently at 7.8 – and you can see the tax increase for these families is almost nothing. The average home won’t have any more tax. The new homes, there’s enough of them where the improvements will make up our two-and-a-half per cent.”

However, that doesn’t mean that Vauxhall residents won’t see an increase on their tax bill, as the town is responsible for collecting the province’s education tax, and that is going to be higher this year.

“Education taxes, we collect and we send in. We’re the province’s errand children for education taxes. There’s nothing we can do about it, they tell us what to collect. In my opinion, they should collect their own education taxes, but they ask the municipalities to do it. So when people see their taxes that’s when they’re mad at the Town, even though a good chunk of it is education taxes.”

Holt stresses that municipalities have no control over the cost of education taxes. Because of the education tax increase, a family in Vauxhall with a $400,000 home will see an $150 increase in education taxes, according to Holt.

“We can’t really afford to take less tax then we have in the past, we’re kind of holding the line here. And because we’ve had some growth, we’re getting that extra two-and-a-half per cent we’re getting for operations.”

In terms of businesses, Holt said a business worth half a million paid $8,700 in tax, not this year, that business is worth $522,000, and is expected to pay $8,696 this year in property taxes. Holt said that some businesses may pay more if the assessor think they’re worth more, but those would be the exception.

However, education tax increases are expected to hit businesses more than homeowners, and would pay $250 more for their education tax. Holt also cautioned that the education tax is expected to increase again next year.

Coun. Russell Norris said that the town’s property tax rates seem “more than fair” and there is a balance to it.

Council passed first reading of Bylaw 1008-25. Coun. Shelley Deleeuw was not in attendance to the meeting.