THEBACHA/FORT SMITH - The Town of Fort Smith has approved its 2011 mill rates, but not before undertaking a bit of an adventure in mathematics.

A mill rate bylaw passed third reading at a special meeting of council on March 29.

However, the bylaw had passed first and second readings on Feb. 22 with improperly calculated mill rate hikes.

"When we did first and second readings of the bylaw, we had rates in there that made no sense," said Brenda Black, senior administrative officer for the municipality.

The miscalculations were spotted and corrected before third reading.

The tax increase remains unchanged at five per cent as approved in budget deliberations in December.

Black explained that, in the bylaw's first and second readings, the mill rates were higher than they should have been.

The incorrect calculations had been done by the then-director of corporate services, who is no longer with the municipality.

"It was more a matter of the person doing the calculations didn't understand the process of how to do the calculations," Black said.

She noticed the problems in the calculations during her first week of working for the town, but the first and second readings of the bylaw had passed by then.

Black said most town residents would not have realized there was a problem with the mill rate calculations since no tax bills have been sent out.

However, she said the mill rate bylaw was passed later than in the past and the town has been delayed sending out the bills, which normally occurs sometime in February.

Many residents have been calling town hall wondering where the tax bills are, she said. "We have a policy whereby, if you pay by a certain date, you get a discount."

The late bills won't affect the three per cent discount on municipal taxation, since it is based on people paying their taxes within 30 days of the bills being mailed. The discount doesn't apply to the school levy, which is collected by the municipality for the GNWT.

The first and second readings of the bylaw also had a brief summary of expenditures and revenues in the budget, along with projections of 2011 taxation and grants in lieu.

Those projections and estimates were removed during third reading at the suggestion of Black, who attended the March 29 meeting via teleconference from Yellowknife.

She is in the process of verifying the budget figures and a separate bylaw will be passed later.

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