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slight increase possible

Clearwater County mulls over possible tax increase

Apr 29, 2019 | 1:19 PM

Officials with Clearwater County are looking into the merits of a property tax increase for 2019.

At their meeting last week, council heard that a 1% per cent tax increase for residential, non-residential and farmland properties this year would allow the county to run a surplus of about $36,000, while maintaining the current tax rate would result in a deficit of about $434,000.

That deficit would be covered using existing reserves.

A draft 2019 Tax Bylaw has not yet been presented to council.

“Overall tax bills are still likely to rise due to an anticipated increase in the school requisition in 2019, which we collect on behalf of the province,” explains Clearwater County Reeve Jim Duncan.

It’s not yet known how much the 2019 education requisition will amount to due to a delay in the provincial budget, which may not come until this fall due to the recent election and change in government.