Duane Hicks
Tax bills will be on the way by mid-June after town council finalized the 2013 budget at its regular meeting last night.
Mayor Roy Avis said this year’s budget process took longer than normal—more than six months—and was a lot of work.
“At the beginning, I thought it was a pretty well insurmountable task with the reassessment of the Resolute facility,” he noted.
“I know myself, and I think council, wanted to stay within the cost-of-living increase and yet maintain a level of services that we’ve had in the past, and make it acceptable to the ratepayers” the mayor added.
“Fast forward to tonight, we were able to accept a budget that recognizes our objectives,” he said.
Mayor Avis thanked Fort Frances CAO Mark McCaig and administration for making council’s job easier.
He also recognized the contribution the management team and non-union employees made toward the budget by forgoing a two percent wage increase in 2013.
As previously reported, the budget includes a levy increase of 1.8 percent for residential taxpayers, which translates into an overall tax rate increase of 0.677 percent.
What this will mean is that residential taxes will go up $12.65 per $100,000 of assessment.
But some people will pay more and some less due to the most recent round of Municipal Property Assessment Corp. reassessments.
On average, the assessment of homes in Fort Frances went up three percent. This means that taxes for a home assessed at $100,000 last year will go up $69.13 if the assessment of that home went up three percent.
Tax bills will be sent out in June, with payments due on July 31 and Aug. 30.
Treasurer Laurie Witherspoon presented the $22.5-million budget, explaining how the budget process occurred, what the sources of revenue and breakdown of expenditures were, how property tax rates are set, levy restrictions and hard capping, and controllable and uncontrollable costs.
Witherspoon noted uncontrollable costs—such as DSSAB, Rainycrest, policing, the Northwestern Health Unit, and, this year, the repayment of taxes to Resolute Forest Products after the Assessment Review Board appeal settlement—once again comprised a large part of the town’s overall budget.
In simplest terms, $52.46 of $100 in tax dollars goes to uncontrollable services.
The other $47.54 is for services controlled by the municipality, such as sewer and water, roads, the airport, waste management, and community services like the library, arena, museum, day care, marina, and Sunny Cove Camp.
No contributions to reserve funds were allocated in the 2013 budget as monies normally budgeted for this were put toward the tax repayment to Resolute.
The projected reserve fund balance at the end of 2013 is estimated at $8.74 million.
Sewer and water reserve funds comprise 57.95 percent of the total reserve funds, with only 42.05 percent being a combination of dedicated and discretionary funds.
Coun. Rick Wiedenhoeft noted the sewer and water reserve fund might sound like a healthy amount. But he said the public has to keep in mind that if the town were to replace the sanitary sewer system that needs to be replaced in the next five years, it would cost $32 million.
Operations and Facilities manager Doug Brown noted that amount would be just for the sewer system, adding the town also has roads that are falling apart and other problems.
Council did receive one piece of budget input from the public at last night’s meeting—a letter from Seniors, Retirees Against Pension & Elder Abuse (SRAEA) chairman Allan T. Bedard.
Also at last night’s meeting, council:
•passed a bylaw to authorize a lease with respect to certain municipal property at 501 Sixth St. W.; and
•passed a bylaw to authorize the signing of an employment agreement with Gary Rogozinski as caretaker of Sunny Cove Camp.
