Corporate Services (also known as the Finance Department) provides a wide and varied range of services to ratepayers, Councillors, and all internal departments within the Municipal District of Taber. These services include property tax and assessment, utility billing, community funding (grants), records management, accounts payable and receivable, and financial reporting and budgets.
Financial reporting and budgets
In an attempt to be as transparent to the public as possible, Corporate Services provides multiple reports to keep our ratepayers informed of where their tax dollars are being spent. These include financial reports such as the MD of Taber’s annual financial statements, operating and capital budgets, and annual Financial Reports.
The approved Operating and Capital Budgets are also available to the public as these budgets are established by Council to guide the operations of the MD of Taber.
As part of the budget process, Council reviews multiple applications for funding from organizations throughout the MD of Taber. In order to effectively review these applications, Council has established Recreation Boards for each of the districts within the MD of Taber. These Recreation Boards assist the organizations with the preparation of their applications and provide recommendations to Council for their districts' Recreation and Cultural Funding.
Property taxes and assessments
Municipal Taxes are generated in order to fund the operations of the Municipal District of Taber. The MD of Taber is also responsible for collecting taxes for funding Education and Seniors Housing requisitions.
The MD of Taber is responsible for ensuring that each property owner pays his or her fair share of taxes. Property Assessments are used by municipalities to distribute the tax burden among property owners in a municipality. The total assessed value of all the properties in the MD of Taber is used to determine the tax rate, which is then able to be applied equally to the ratepayers of the MD of Taber. Tax Bylaws are established each year to fund municipal operations and requisitions.
To assist our ratepayers with making payments on their property taxes, the MD of Taber offers the ability to enter into our Tax Instalment Payment Plan (TIPP) which allows for pre-authorized monthly payments to be made on their taxes.
Tax Certificates are also available through Corporate Services and provide details on tax balances for tax roll accounts, typically used by lawyers and banking institutions as a confirmation of tax balances; however, these are also available to the landowners of the property.
Financial services
Corporate Services provides multiple financial services for the MD of Taber including payroll, accounts payable and receivable, utility billing, and records management. Also included within this department are administrative staff that manages public inquiries, the main phone lines and the reception counter at the administration office.
Community funding (grants)
The MD of Taber provides support and assistance to organisations within the MD of Taber for grants research and application. The MD of Taber will search for grants relating to a group's particular project or program. With the ever-increasing strain on municipal budgets, grants from both provincial and federal governments and the private sector are a great alternative source of funding for organisations. To discuss grant options for your organization, please contact Corporate Services at 403-223-3541.
