Article content

It may not be a common topic of office chit-chat, but there’s a lot of buzz about municipal tax ratios in Fort McMurray right now.

“My friends are talking about it. They’re very, very worried about it. That’s the conversation around the water cooler,” said Wildrose MLA Tany Yao.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Fort McMurray residents worry about property tax hikes as province looks to balance out tax rates Back to video

Put simply, tax rates in Wood Buffalo Regional Municipality are out of whack and the NDP government wants to smooth them out. Right now, industry pays a rate 18 times higher than homeowners, meaning businesses foot more than 90 per cent of the municipal budget.

The government says nothing will change in the short-term, but any movement in the ratio would take dollars out of the pockets of homeowners.

“That could mean a substantial increase to our housing taxes and that can be absolutely devastating to a community,” said Yao, who represents Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo in the legislature.

Don Scott, a mayoral candidate in Fort McMurray who has served as a Progressive Conservative MLA, said it’s a massive issue for the town and communication from the government has been poor.

“It has the potential to make this region unviable. People should be screaming their heads off at all levels of government for what’s going on right now,” said Scott.