Town taxes to jump two percent

A re-assessment year will mean a tight budget for Fort Frances in 2001.
Taxes were raised two percent but the town still will have far less spending money next year because of lost revenue totalling $334,915 due to provincial re-assessment.
Besides increasing taxes, council Monday night also cut the contingency fund established to cover un-budgeted costs throughout the year.
“From the managers’ standpoint, they don’t have any flexibility in their budget. It will make managers out of managers,” Mayor Glenn Witherspoon noted.
Overall, there was a revenue shortfall of 5.1 percent versus expenditures, which was recovered by cutting costs and increasing the levy.
But because of the re-assessments, the levy does not mean every town household or business will pay more taxes depending on individual assessments.
Coun. Struchan Gilson argued Monday that a larger tax levy increase would be preferable because it reduces the risk of having to make a larger increase in future years.
“It seems to me that if we do this thing, we’re going to be looking at some big tax increase down the line,” he remarked.
But Mayor Witherspoon said yesterday he expected the town only will have to tighten its belt in 2001, with some relief in 2002 because of an increase in the tax base with improved economic development bringing more businesses to Fort Frances and the completion of current projects such as the Super 8 Hotel.
“The hardest part was to pick up on the transfer to Abitibi. Now that this assessment is done, it won’t happen for another four years,” the mayor added.
The lost tax revenue came because of the re-assessment of the town’s industrial taxpayers, including Abitibi-Consolidated Inc., which have been assessed at lower market value.
The levy, passed Monday, is an interim one because council still must receive uncontrollable levies from organizations including the Northwestern Health Unit, the Rainy River District Social Services Administration Board (DSSAB), and the Northwestern Ontario Recycling Association.