Huntsville residents are expected see an overall property tax increase of about 1.77 per cent in 2017, thanks to expected decreases to the education portion of the overall tax bill. That means a home owner with a home assessed at a value of $200,000 will see his or her property tax bill increase by about $29 over last year – despite a tax hike of 5.48 per cent in the Town’s portion of the bill and a 1.11 per cent increase in the District’s portion of the tax bill.
The province is in fact gradually taking more of the education piece off the property tax bill in part because they recognize the pressures that municipalities are facing with their requirements for capital asset management plans and that kind of stuff. Huntsville Mayor Scott Aitchison
The Town of Huntsville will levy $13,493,500 from taxation this year, which represents an increase of 6.79 per cent over last year. Council passed the budget at its January 23, 2017 meeting with some minor tweaks since its last budget discussions at its General Committee meeting on January 9, 2017. Instead of using $10,000 in taxation dollars to create accessible washroom facilities at Conroy Park, it decided to fund the project from its parks capital reserve. No other major changes were made other than some minor adjustments in revenue that were not accounted for at the last meeting, explained Huntsville Manager of Finance/Treasurer Julia McKenzie.
Aitchison did note to members of the audience who were present at the passing of the budget that although $26,785 for a traffic study at HHS and the Canada Summit Centre has been removed from the budget, more information and a resolution on that initiative would be brought forward at the Town’s next General Committee meeting. He said the Town will also ask the Trillium Lakelands District School Board to participate in the project.
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Thanks, Scott. I do appreciate you taking the time to reply. Not sure I fully understand all the ins and outs of your answer such as the depreciation aspects, etc. but what you are saying does make sense. Unfortunately the bottom line remains that everything the various levels of government have a hand in (taxes included) are rising at far too rapid a rate. We are putting our seniors (and many others) in very difficult positions, and it appears only to be getting worse.
John,
I agree with you. The operating funds for the Town are a small portion of that increase while the lions share of it relates to capital. The Province has mandated that municipalities establish and fund capital asset management plans. Our capital assets include everything from computers to roads and bridges. When you look at the municipal financial statements, we have a significant deficit when the depreciation of assets (particularly roads) is included. If Council were to raise taxes to sufficiently fund our asset management plan, it would require an increase north of 100%. This is clearly not sustainable. This is why Council has been working to eliminate assets that are not part of the core function of the municipality. We will be embarking on an in-depth review of all our assets to determine what we should own, what we should not own and what level of service makes sense for taxpayer to fund. This is part of the reason why the Province is gradually decreasing the education portion of the tax bill – so municipalities can fund what the Province has told us to fund.
For more detailed information I encourage everyone to visit the Town Website to learn more about the budget and these asset plans. You can access that information here: http://www.huntsville.ca/en/townHall/Budget.asp
I am happy to discuss in further detail any time and can be reached at: 705-788-4406 or email me at: [email protected]
Scott Aitchison
Mayor
I personally am quick to criticize governments for tax increases, so must just as quickly compliment them on restraints. A tax increase of 1.77 percent is certainly in line with inflation and should be acceptable to all.
Now the “but”. This increase is so small solely because of district and education increases (or decreases) and not because Huntsville council has been able to restrain themselves on spending. An increase of 5.48 percent is NOT acceptable when inflation is at the low point that it is today. Home owners are having a tough time affording their own hydro, water, cable, etc. without having to fund excessive spending by the town. A sharp pencil taken to the budget would be required, but in these times should be undertaken in order to make sure in future years, when the “offsets” from district and the education levy are not available, we are not back into 8 or 9 % increases?