Taxation & Assessment

Your property taxes explained

The taxation year runs from January to December.

Taxes on screen text with blue background

Property taxes support services and amenities that advance Cochrane's quality of life.

Your property tax contributes to municipal services, provincial education, and seniors' affordable housing. The municipal portion of your property taxes fund a variety of services that Cochrane residents rely on.

Every dollar contributed to municipal services funds:

fire services and RCMP
community services
public works
planning & development
engineering & asset management
municipal enforcement
legislative, administrative and general government services

The 2023 average single family dwelling assessment was $561,200. The municipal portion of property taxes, $2583, was distributed to community services, fire services, RCMP, public works, engineering and asset management, planning and development, municipal enforcement and legislative, administrative and general government functions. A pie chart demonstrates the portion of municipal property tax that was distributed to each of these areas and services.

In 2023, the average assessment increased by 13.21 per cent, with taxes increasing 3.85 per cent. This amounted to an average increase of $96 per year in municipal taxes and $47 per year in Provincial education and seniors’, totaling an additional $143 per year.

Average Single Family Dwelling Taxes	2023	2022	$ in/decrease	% in/decrease
Assessment	$561,200	$495,700	$65,500	13.21%
Municipal Tax Levy	$2,583	$2,487	$96	3.86%
Education & Rocky View Foundation requisitions	$1,275	$1,228	$47	3.83%
Total property tax bill	$3,858	$3,715	$143	3.85%

Current and historic tax rates

Tax rates are updated annually when Council approves the tax bylaw.

2023	Total Municipal	Rocky View Foundation	Education	Total Mill Rate
Residential	0.0046032	0.0000443	0.0022284	0.0068759
Non-residential	0.0075315	0.0000443	0.0035258	0.0111016
Annexed Residential	0.0024440	0.0000443	0.0022284	0.0047167
Annexed Farmland	0.0054990	0.0000443	0.0022284	0.0077717
Annexed Non-residential	0.0073320	0.0000443	0.0035258	0.0109021

Historic Tax Rates

	2022	2021	2020	2019	2018
Residential	0.0074947	0.0076331	0.0074182	0.0072562	0.00714
Non-residential	0.0115224	0.0105391	0.0102362	0.0102887	0.00994
Annexed Residential	0.0050105	0.0052081	0.0051211	0.0051073	0.00508
Annexed Farmland	0.0054990	0.0000443	0.0022284	0.0077717	0.00816
Annexed Non-residential	0.0073320	0.0000443	0.0035258	0.0109021	0.01119
Community Revitalization Levy + R. V. Foundation non-residential rate	0.0115224	0.0105391	0.0102362	0.0102887	0.00994

Important Dates

2023

Failure to receive your tax notice does not exempt you from late payment penalties.

Important Dates 2023
Jan 1	15 per cent penalty applied on all outstanding taxes
Jan 20	Assessment notices mailed
Jan 30	Notice of assessment date
Jan 30 – Mar 31	60-day review period
Mar 31	Final date to file a complaint
May 30	Property tax bills mailed
June 30	Property tax payments due
July 1	Seven per cent penalty applied on all outstanding current taxes
Oct 1	Eight per cent penalty applied on all outstanding current taxes
Oct 20	Supplementary bills mailed
Oct 30	Supplementary notice of assessment date
Oct 30 – Dec 29	Supplementary 60-day review period
Dec 29	Final date to file a complaint for supplementary assessments
Dec 31	Supplementary property tax payments due

FAQs

How do I update my mailing address?

Is there any support for seniors for property taxes?

Is there a penalty if I miss the property tax due date?

Yes. The due date for property tax payment is the date shown on the front of your tax bill. To avoid a penalty, payment must be received no later than the due date. If your bank is paying your taxes you are still responsible for ensuring they are paid on time.

Penalties are imposed under the authority of the Town of Cochrane Tax Penalties Bylaw 08/2008, which was passed pursuant to provisions of the Municipal Government Act and cannot be waived by the Town of Cochrane Tax Department.

Property tax account balances remaining outstanding after the due date are subject to the following penalties:

7% applied July 1 to current outstanding amount
8% applied October 1 to current outstanding amount

Arrears:

A further penalty of 15% is applied on January 1 to the total outstanding balance as of December 31 (including taxes and applied penalties).

What if I am paying property taxes as part of my mortgage?

If you are paying principal, interest and taxes (PIT) to your mortgage company, you will receive the original tax bill for your records and the mortgage company will receive an invoice for your taxes. Your tax bill will show the name of the company we are invoicing. If you are paying PIT to your mortgage company, you would not qualify for the monthly TIPP program.

If you believe you are paying PIT and the mortgage company name does not appear on the bill, contact your mortgage company immediately.

If a mortgage company is indicated on your bill and this firm is no longer responsible for your tax payments, you are responsible for paying the bill.

Why did I receive a tax bill or assessment notice when I sold the property?

How can I get another copy of my tax bill or assessment notice?

What affects my property tax bill?

What if there is a revenue surplus? Will my taxes go down?

How can I find the amount I paid in property tax last year?

How do I update my school support declaration?

Why do I pay school taxes when I don't have children going to school?

Provincial legislation specifies that the funds for schools are to be collected by municipalities. The Education Portion collected by the municipality on behalf of the Province and is approximately 32% of your property tax bill. People who do not own property contribute indirectly through their rental or lease payments.

If you have any questions regarding school taxes, please contact Alberta Education directly.

How are property assessments and taxes related?

The property tax each resident pays is calculated in proportion to the value of the real estate property they own. Determining the value of a property for taxation purposes is known as assessment. Assessed values are a means of fairly distributing the town tax burden and ensuring that each property owner pays a fair and equitable level of tax. Find out how your property assessment is determined.

Annual assessment notices are mailed to property owners by the end of January each year. The assessed value reflects the value of your property based on economic conditions as of July 1 and physical condition of December 31 of the previous year.

How do I view historical assessment values for my property?

Your property taxes explained

Property taxes support services and amenities that advance Cochrane's quality of life.

Important Dates

FAQs

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