Rosetown taxes rise two per cent in 2026 budget

By Ian MacKay

Property taxes for 2026 will rise two per cent after town councillors approved this year’s budget.

The mill rate will rise to 7.14 mills from 7.0 mills “and the mill rate factors would stay the same,” Amanda Bors, the acting chief administrator, said during the March 2 regular meeting.

Mayor Trevor Hay asked administration to prepare information on planned capital expenses with “an explanation of what this budget’s about, the purchases we’re going to make and why we’re making them and the things that we’re doing.”

“The cost of living and inflation have been going up and just to have a minimal, two-per cent increase is a very small amount, but needed — necessary — for the increases that we’re seeing,” Hay said.

“In the future here, I think we’re going to see some growth, the tax levy growing, with the homes that are maybe going to be built and businesses going up,” he added.

The base taxes go to $109 for agriculture land and improvements, $1,175 for residential property, whether a building stands on it or not, and $1,504 for commercial land, also whether it contains any buildings.

Residential and commercial property owners must also pay a separate $300 infrastructure levy on each property they own that is “to be used for infrastructure renewal,” the bylaw says.

Councillors also gave first reading to a zoning bylaw amendment that, if passed, will move a property adjacent to Highway 4 on the south edge of town to C2 Commercial from Agricultural.

Developer Murray Silljer aims to turn the home there into an “upscaled rooming house,” eventually with a coffee shop, he told councillors during their Feb. 17 meeting.

The matter next goes to a public hearing, scheduled for the April 6 council meeting, to hear anyone who has “comments, questions or concerns,” Bors said.