County of Stettler councillors were notified the municipality is scheduled to undergo a major Government of Alberta audit. Councillors were notified of the audit at their July 23 regular meeting.

Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Yvette Cassidy told councillors she was responsible for notifying them the municipality is scheduled to undergo a “detailed assessment audit” that will be conducted by Municipal Affairs.

“Which is a good thing,” said Cassidy to councillors. “It’s a good thing to check, make sure our numbers are correct.”

Cassidy stated the municipality pays its assessor a lot of money every year and it’s good to make sure the assessor applies the correct base modifiers, codes “...and that everything is up to snuff.”

Municipal Affair’s website defined such an audit thusly: “Detailed assessment audits are conducted in every municipality on a five-year cycle to monitor whether assessments are prepared in accordance with legislation and regulations, and consistently in relation to other municipalities.”

The CAO agreed. “I think our number just came up,” said Cassidy. “We had one before a few years ago and it was fine.”

Reeve Larry Clarke asked if the audit was already underway, to which the CAO responded no, it will take some planning because the official assessor will likely be involved.

Coun. James Nibourg was curious about the provincial government’s selection process. “So what would have triggered that?” asked Nibourg.

Cassidy reiterated her observation. “I think our number just came up,” said the CAO. “They cycle...I think it’s a good thing.”

Director of Municipal Services Andrew Brysiuk echoed that statement. “There’s no indication there’s any catalyst to it,” said Brysiuk.

Coun. Nibourg was curious what would happen if the audit revealed a problem. “What if they find we’re low?” asked Nibourg, referring to the possibility the County of Stettler's property assessments were too low. “Would we have a re-assessment of all of the properties in the County of Stettler?”

The CAO responded, “We could. We could, yeah. I don’t think we are (low). If we are, we’ll fix it.” Cassidy added she liked hearing an outside opinion on how the municipality assesses property.

The CAO also reminded councillors the County of Stettler doesn’t actually assess property, the municipality’s official assessor does and the municipality is bound by law to select an assessor from a list provided by the Government of Alberta. Cassidy stated the County of Stettler has worked with a very experienced assessor that has a good reputation across the entire province, which bodes well for such an audit.

The CAO also pointed out that the oil and gas industry assessment comes from the Government of Alberta itself.

In a practical sense, Albertans could check on their municipality’s performance by looking at what are called “municipal indicators.” Every year the Government of Alberta releases a municipal indicators report that ranks municipalities on 13 categories in relation to certain benchmarks, including tax rates; the indicators would possibly reveal if a municipality was noticeably high or low in mill rate, delinquent taxes or other assessment-related facts.

“Municipal indicators are a proactive warning tool,” noted the Government of Alberta’s website.

Coun. Nibourg asked if the auditors will check for properties that may have escaped assessment or been overlooked in some way. Cassidy responded yes, the county will receive a list of properties plus the auditors will also ensure mill rates have been applied properly.

Brysiuk noted, however, he felt the detailed assessment audit will be “desk top” only and doubted there will be any field work involved.

Cassidy noted since she’s been employed by the County of Stettler there’s been three such audits conducted with no issues; the last one had very good results. “The last one was great and we came out of it with flying colours,” she added.

Councillors accepted the report as information.