Rhineland RM issues correction of mill rate
Gretna residents will still be facing higher municipal tax bills this year, but not as much as had first been believed.
A recent notice from the Municipality of Rhineland corrected the information they had originally circulated as part of the approval of its 2026 budget.
The municipality explained an error occurred during the budget presentation at the public hearing March 18. It had been noted a mill rate of 21.294 was presented for the local urban district of Gretna, but the figure was incorrect due to a transcription error when transferring numbers from the financial plan bylaw into the budget presentation.
The correct mill rate is 20.294, and as a result of this error, the reported property tax impact for Gretna residents was overstated. The presented increase of 15.7 per cent should have been 10.2 per cent, which reflects the actual approved tax increase.
“It is still high,” acknowledged Reeve Don Wiebe.
“Many of the other LUDs have growth, assessment growth,” he explained. “It compounds the problem because you have no increased assessment to go with on which to base the taxation. So that’s the struggle with Gretna. We hope that some things will change going forward.”
The total tax levy for the LUD of Gretna is $321,205. These funds support essential community services and core infrastructure including sidewalks and streets, fire department capital and operating costs, the recycling depot, workshop operations, community beautification, snow clearing, street lighting, mowing, cemetery maintenance, community activities, recreation facilities (arena, ball diamond and park building), drainage, and wages.
The municipality in consultation with the LUD of Gretna committee will continue to work at maintaining a competitive property tax rate while balancing the service needs and expectations of the community, according to a release from the municipality.
“Like many municipalities, we are experiencing inflationary pressures across most expenditure categories, which have contributed to this year’s increase. Council recognizes that property tax increases can be challenging and remains committed to using collected taxes to maintain and improve the community.
“Maybe we can turn this around and get some commercial enterprises to start moving back into Gretna,” said Wiebe. “I like to be optimistic, so I think some things could happen.
“This is still a high increase but we are optimistic this could set us in a good place to move forward.”
