Off-Site Levies

Who pays for off-site infrastructure?

Both the City and developers contribute.

The City of Medicine Hat calculates how much growth is projected in an area and how much impact that growth will have on infrastructure. The City then shares the costs of growth. The City and developers both contribute to the cost of off-site infrastructure.

Off-site levies must be paid at the time of Development Permit approval for Development Permit applications, and at the time of subdivision endorsement for subdivision applications.

Buyers of new homes do end up paying for some of the cost of the infrastructure. When the developers pay levies to cover the cost of growth infrastructure, the charges are included in the cost of a new house. This infrastructure is critical to ensuring residents continue to live in complete communities with the services they need.

For further information about off-site levies

View Off-site Levies: A Municipality's Manual for Capital Cost Recovery Due to New Development, prepared by Brownlee LLP in 2019.

View manual

How are rates determined?

To calculate off-site levy rates, the City uses the Corvus model, which projects the infrastructure required to support and maintain cost-effective and orderly growth. The City has allocated those costs to the lands in nodes that will benefit from the new or expanded infrastructure so that developers and people subdividing land will pay an amount proportionate to the area being developed or subdivided.

The current Off-site Levy Bylaw was approved by City Council on September 4, 2013. The City reviews the rates each year. Provincial legislation dictates that levy collection is subject to annual reporting requirements.

Off-Site Levy Bylaw

Subsidies

The city offers a scaled subsidy program, whereby the City of Medicine Hat agrees to assist with part of the off-site infrastructure fees.

This measure was approved by City Council to encourage new development in Medicine Hat, particularly to attract new investment to the city. The assist levels are higher in areas where the City would most like to encourage new development (intensification areas).

Current subsidies

• 30% (most City areas)
• 90% (priority 1 intensification areas)

Intensification is one of the main policy goals of the Municipal Development Plan (MDP). The intensification nodes used in the Off-Site Levy Bylaw are aligned with the intensification area in the MDP.

Municipal Development Plan

City nodes map

The City of Medicine Hat is divided into 18 different "nodes", under the Off-Site Levy Bylaw. Each area has a different off-site levy rate based on factors which ensure that each development carries an equal share of costs associated with the needs of each node. In most of the nodes, there will be ongoing development for at least a couple of decades. In nine of the nodes, development is not anticipated until further in the future.

City Nodes map