About Rural Property Tax - Agencies with Taxing Authority

A taxing authority can legally levy (bill) property taxes. These agencies include the province, municipalities and improvement districts.

A taxing jurisdiction determines its annual funding requirements and asks a taxing authority to raise the funds through property taxes. The Revised Assessment Roll produced by BC Assessment provides taxing jurisdictions with the necessary information to determine the tax rates to meet their funding requirements.

TAXING JURISDICTIONS

The Surveyor of Taxes levies Rural Property Taxes for a variety of provincial and local government taxing jurisdictions:

Governing Statute: Taxation (Rural Area) Act, School Act and Police Act
Ministry Responsible: Ministry of Small Business and Revenue

The provincial Rural Property Tax raises revenue to fund general provincial programs. Rural Property Tax applies to land outside cities, towns, districts and village boundaries and is a uniform rate.

Police Tax is levied in rural areas and in municipalities with populations of less than 5,000 people. Municipalities with more than 5,000 people contract directly with the province for police services, or maintain their own police forces.

The tax rates are uniform within a regional district electoral area. A portion of the tax is collected through the Rural Property Tax, and the remainder is collected through the Police Tax.

School Tax is levied in both rural and municipal areas. The tax rates are uniform within a school district. Non-residential school tax rates are uniform throughout the province, while the residential tax rate varies between school districts.

Governing Statute: Local Government Act
Ministry Responsible: Ministry of Community Services

After the province, regional districts are the largest taxing jurisdiction in rural areas. Regional district taxes are also levied in municipalities for certain shared services.

There are 27 regional districts, which cover the entire province, except the Stikine area. A regional district is governed by a Board of Directors, comprised of municipal council members and rural electoral area directors. The primary function of the Board is to ensure that regional residents have access to services, regardless of where they live.

Region-wide services often include regional and community planning, waste management, recreation and parks and bylaw enforcement. The regional district has a special mandate to ensure rural residents have access to basic services such as fire protection, water and sewer systems, and building inspection. The principal source of funding is through property taxes and, in some instances, through user fees. Only those properties with access to a service are subject to taxation, whether or not the property owner makes use of that service. User fees are not considered property taxes and are directly billed by the regional district. Areas where the current year taxes experienced greater than 10% within the Regional Districts are identified here.

Governing Statute: Local Government Act
Ministry Responsible: Ministry of Community Services

The province levies taxes on behalf of many improvement districts for fire protection and street lighting services. Improvement districts also provide other services including water and sewer systems. Unlike regional districts, improvement districts have the authority to levy property taxes and hold tax sales of real property for non-payment of taxes.

Governing Statute: Hospital District Act
Ministry Responsible: Ministry of Health Services

There are 23 active regional hospital districts throughout the province. The hospital district property tax raises revenue to repay the costs of major capital expenditures such as hospital construction and acquisition of medical equipment.

As a result of hospital district reorganization between 1996 and 1998, there are 13 defunct regional hospital districts for which taxes continue to be levied. However, the taxes will be discontinued when all old debt is paid.

Governing Statute: Local Services Act
Ministry Responsible: Ministry of Community Services

There are four functioning Local Areas remaining in the province that requisition funding through property taxation. Local Areas were established to provide a variety of services such as fire protection, waste management, parks, and others.

Today, a regional district would administer the provision of services that a Local Area may have been set up to provide in the past. The only exception would be the Stikine area, which is not incorporated within a regional district.

Governing Statute: Assessment Authority Act
Ministry Responsible: Ministry of Small Business and Revenue

BC Assessment is a Crown corporation responsible for the valuation and classification of property in the province. The BC Assessment levy raises revenue to meet the corporation's annual operating costs and the tax rates are uniform in both rural and municipal areas.

Governing Statute: Municipal Finance Authority Act
Ministry Responsible: Ministry of Community Services

The Municipal Finance Authority (MFA) is a Crown corporation that arranges financing for both regional district and municipal capital projects. The MFA is comprised of regional district board members representing each regional district. The MFA levy raises revenue to meet the Authority's annual operating costs and the tax rates are uniform in both rural and municipal areas.

Governing Statute: Islands Trust Act
Ministry Responsible: Ministry of Community Services

The Islands Trust is a Crown agency that was created to preserve and protect the unique amenities and environment of the trust area. There are 23 island groups within the trust area. The area extends from Denman Island in the north, east through Lasqueti, Bowen and Gambier Islands and southwest to Sidney and James Islands.

The functions of the Islands Trust include planning, zoning, acquisition and disposal of property and bylaw enforcement.

Governing Statute: British Columbia Transit Act
Ministry Responsible: Ministry of Finance

The British Columbia Transit Authority (BC Transit) is responsible for planning, establishing, funding and maintaining public passenger transportation services. The two primary transit authorities are Translink (Greater Vancouver) and BC Transit (Greater Victoria).

Transit taxes are levied in order to raise required operating revenues over and above the revenues generated from the public transportation systems. The tax rates are uniform in both rural and municipal members of a given transit area.