Residents facing 2.5% tax hike

Staff

Town council is done working on its 2011 budget, with residents facing a 2.55 percent levy increase.
However, due to a decrease in the education tax rate, as well as changes in the assessed values, some property owners will see an increase in levy but a decrease in the amount of dollars paid.
For example, 2,856 residential property owners will see an average tax increase of $55 while 227 will see their taxes go down an average of $4.
The levy increase will be 2.77 percent for multi-residential, meaning 18 multi-residential property owners will see an average tax increase of $162.
Meanwhile, the levy increase will be one percent for commercial.
This means 46 commercial property owners will see an average tax increase of $862 while 213 will see their taxes go down an average of $235.
The levy increase will be 1.12 percent for industrial.
This means eight industrial property owners will see an average tax increase of $47 while 14 will see their taxes go down an average of $62.
The levy increase will be 1.25 percent for large industrial, meaning one large industrial property owner (the mill) will see a tax increase of $5,170.
Finally, the levy increase will be 2.2 percent for pipeline, meaning two pipeline property owners will see an average tax increase of $804.
The levy increase is being used to pay for an operating budget increase of $245,976.
The proposed budget will be presented at a public meeting April 25, after which time council will vote on it as a bylaw.