Local property owners will see their taxes go up this year.
At their budget meeting here Monday afternoon, administration and council agreed to raise an additional $368,025 in tax revenue, making the total 2019 tax revenue required $11,322,103.
This is an increase of 1.795 percent above the 2018 tax rates and an increase of 3.71 percent over the notional rate.
In order to better explain what this means in layperson’s terms, town administration provided the Times with a breakdown of how taxes are calculated and an example of the impact to a property owner.
The amount of property tax payable on property in Ontario is the result of a calculation based on four factors:
- The current value assessment (CVA) of your property (determined by MPAC (Municipal Property Assessment Corporation);
- The property class into which your property falls;
- The municipal tax rate for the applicable property class (set annually by town council); and
- The education tax rate for the applicable property class (set annually by the province).
Property taxes are calculated using the CVA of a property and multiplying it by the combined municipal and education tax rates for the applicable class of property.
In 2018, there was a total of $518,679,063 in taxable assessment in our community for which $10,954,078 in tax revenue was budgeted.
In 2019, as the third year of a four-year assessment cycle, there is a total of $529,101,012 in taxable assessment, which is an increase of $10,421,949.
The notional tax rate represents the tax rate required to collect the same amount of taxes as the prior year, using the current year’s assessment roll. This would mean a decrease in the residential rate by 1.89 percent since there is more available taxable assessment in 2019.
Town administration provided the example of a residential property owner with a market value assessment of $150,000 with no phase-in increase in 2019.
In 2018, this property would have paid $2,479.43 in municipal taxes ($150,000 CVA) multiplied by 0.01652955 (the 2018 municipal tax rate)). In 2019, the same property owner would pay $2,523.94 ($150,000 CVA) multiplied by 0.01682625 (the 2019 municipal tax rate)) or an increase of 1.795 percent or $44.51.
In simplest terms, if your property assessment is increasing in 2019, you will pay a higher percentage increase but the rate increase per dollar of assessment is 1.795 percent.
Every residential property will have a different increase in the amount of taxes paid in 2019 based on the above mentioned factors.
At this time, there is no information in regard to the 2019 education tax rates; however, the trend at been that the provincial government has been reducing the education tax rates over the past 10 years.
If you require any additional information on 2019 taxes, please feel free to contact the treasury department at the town (274-5323).
