Over the next week, BC property owners will be receiving their 2017 Property Assessment Notices. The 2017 assessment is based on the value of the property as at July 1, 2016. Preliminary review of the information shows that residential assessments in Maple Ridge have gone up by an average of 35%.
The proposed 2017-2021 Financial Plan for the City shows an increase of 3.15% in municipal property taxes. The residential property tax rate is established by dividing the amount of money to be raised from the Residential Class by the value of all residential properties in Maple Ridge. This calculation is used to establish the ‘mill rate,’ or the amount of tax to be paid per $1,000 dollars of value.
“Just because property assessments have gone up by an average of 35% does not mean that taxes will be going up by 35%,” said Mayor Nicole Read. “An increase of 3.15% is what is proposed in the draft financial plan and that will be the overall increase in municipal property taxes,” she added.
The tax increase experienced by individual properties will vary depending on how their assessment increase compares to the overall average assessment increase. In general terms, properties that have experienced the ‘average’ increase in assessed value can expect an ‘average’ increase in municipal property taxes. Properties that have experienced a higher than ‘average’ increase in assessed value should be prepared for a larger than ‘average’ tax increase.