{"id":93908,"date":"2021-01-26T05:42:30","date_gmt":"2021-01-26T10:42:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/huntsville.dopperonline.ca\/?p=93908"},"modified":"2021-01-26T13:46:19","modified_gmt":"2021-01-26T18:46:19","slug":"huntsville-council-approves-a-0-35-per-cent-tax-increase-for-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/huntsville-council-approves-a-0-35-per-cent-tax-increase-for-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"Huntsville council approves a 0.35 per cent tax increase for 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

It\u2019s official. Despite speculations that Huntsville residents could see a slight decrease on their 2021 property tax, they\u2019ll see a slight increase instead.<\/p>\n

Huntsville council passed its 2021 budget at its January 25 meeting with an overall $16,985,645, tax-supported budget which represents a 2.37 per cent increase on the levy over last year, and a tax increase of 0.35 per cent.<\/p>\n

<\/broadstreet-zone><\/strong><\/div>\n

Julia McKenzie, director of financial services\/treasurer for the Town, told council that although a decrease was anticipated, it did not materialize due to the education part of the levy remaining the same, rather than decreasing as it has in previous years. Consequently, once assessment growth is taken into consideration as well as the District of Muskoka levy (expected to increase by 3 per cent or less over last year) and the cost of education, a house assessed at $300,000 will see a tax increase of about $4 over last year.<\/p>\n

Councillor Tim Withey expressed disappointment. \u201cSo you didn\u2019t try to find that 0.35 (per cent increase by cutting elsewhere) to make up for that,\u201d he questioned. \u201cNo, we weren\u2019t directed to go back and find that,\u201d responded McKenzie.<\/p>\n

Councillor Jonathan Wiebe put the onus on the District to try and arrive at a zero increase on the property tax for 2021. \u201cI think now it falls on District councillors to try and lower that budget just slightly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Withey said he wasn\u2019t so sure. \u201cI don\u2019t know if that\u2019s the direction it\u2019s got to go Councillor Wiebe. My opinion is that we could still go back and work on this to get it to zero. That\u2019s what I\u2019d like to see. I doubt I have the votes though.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mayor Karin Terziano asked what kind of cuts it would take to reduce the property tax to zero. \u201cI just have to be careful because I can\u2019t guarantee that it would go down to zero because I don\u2019t have the District\u2019s final levy yet,\u201d responded McKenzie. While Councillor Jason FitzGerald said that in his opinion everyone had worked very hard and diligently \u201cto reduce their cost and a lot of costs have been reduced. I\u2019m very proud of what\u2019s been presented for capital projects and improvements so I\u2019m happy to let this go as presented and I don\u2019t think we need to revisit it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Withey agreed reductions had been made but \u201cultimately the taxpayer isn\u2019t getting one and that\u2019s where I\u2019m concerned and I think that\u2026 seeing as it was already out in public that we were going to\u2026 likely have a negative number and a number of people reached out to me to say this is great news, now we\u2019re going back and saying \u2018OK they don\u2019t deserve for us to have another kick at this to get it to at least zero. Regardless of what they do at the other levels [of government], I think that perhaps we shouldn\u2019t have assumed that education was going down in the first place but we did that, I still feel that we can do our jobs and work for the taxpayer here and give them a cut, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Terziano told Withey that while she understood where he was coming from because at the end of the day there\u2019s only one taxpayer, she said council and staff have done their job because a 0.35 per cent increase is close to zero. “So I think we are still the council for Huntsville and I think we have done a good job with our budget for Huntsville.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the end, whether to proceed with a 0.35 per cent increase was put to a vote and passed.<\/p>\n

Budget highlights:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Among the projects and initiatives planned for 2021 are:<\/p>\n