Property Tax Increases in Prince Albert, SK: Factors and Impact

Property tax notices for 2025 have been mailed out to residents in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, with many owners noticing an increase in taxation. The city council approved an $8.5 million increase to the 2025 budget, which is the main factor driving this year's tax increases. The other key factor is the province-wide revaluation of properties, which takes place every four years. This process updates the assessed value of all properties in Saskatchewan based on market conditions.

Revaluation and the budget increase have impacted property taxes, with some properties seeing a tax increase of over $500. The city's unique housing market, where mid-and-lower valued homes saw smaller increases in assessed value, influenced the decision to implement a combination of a 5.43% mill rate increase and a base tax increase for residential properties. The base tax increase of $320 for residential properties and $118 for multi-residential properties aims to distribute the tax burden more evenly across properties.

Key Takeaways:

• The City of Prince Albert has approved a 5.43% mill rate increase and a $320 base tax increase for residential properties and $118 for multi-residential properties as part of the 2025 budget.
• A province-wide revaluation of properties took place in 2025, updating the assessed value of all properties in Saskatchewan based on market conditions from January 2019 to December 2022.
• Not all properties increased in value; some neighborhoods in Prince Albert are in higher demand, driving up assessed values and, subsequently, property taxes.
• The tax impact is tied to the city's $8.5 million budget increase and revaluation changes, with properties that saw a tax increase greater than approximately $500 being impacted by both factors.
• Assessment Notices were mailed in January 2025, and the revaluation process and how assessments are calculated can be found on www.citypa.ca/revaluation.
• The base tax increase addresses the philosophy that all properties benefit equally from essential services, regardless of the assessed value of the property.
• The base tax increase is a flat fee added to the municipal portion of each tax bill and aims to distribute the tax burden more evenly across properties.

Statistics:

• 5.43% mill rate increase for residential properties
• $320 base tax increase for residential properties
• $118 base tax increase for multi-residential properties
• Tax increases greater than approximately $500 were due to both budget increase and revaluation changes
• Properties with an increase of approximately $400 or lower were not impacted by revaluation changes
• The province-wide revaluation updates the assessed value of all properties in Saskatchewan every four years
• 2023 was the year used for market data for the revaluation process
• January 2019 to December 2022 was the time period used for verified sales data

Sources:

• City of Prince Albert news release: Property tax notices for 2025 were mailed out this week.
• www.citypa.ca/revaluation
• January 2025: Assessment Notices were mailed.