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2010 Property Tax Info |
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2010 Property Tax Info |
| Tax increases may be a reality to maintain services (Jan 13,2010) | Shift in education tax bumps up rates to 10.62% (Apr 14,2010) | Kincardine approves 2010 budget (May 5,2010) |
By TROY PATTERSON
Kincardine News Staff
Date March 10.2010
The Municipality of Kincardine may have to bite a 10 per cent tax increase for 2010 if it wants to avoid larger increases over the coming years.
Treasurer Brenda French said the continued dependence on reserve funds to offset tax increases in recent years has come to a point where even larger, significant tax increases may be needed in 2011 and 2012 to cover costs.
Council heard her assessment during a pre-budget meeting March 1, where she addressed the issues at hand and informed council that some big decisions will need to be made this year regarding levels of service and capital projects. "One of the pillars of a community is sustainability, financially, economically and environmentally," French said. "This is a very hard year.
We're going in and filling holes, but we have to ask what are we going to do next year?" Reserves helped cover the $1.3 million tax adjustment in the upcoming 2010 budget caused by decreases in the Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund, Bruce Telecom dividend payment and municipal investments, along with the first payment towards the Kincardine Community Medical Clinic addition loan.
Staff had worked to reduce services by five per cent this budget, but were unsuccessful in some areas.
A temporary reduction in services, operations and capital may help in the short term, French said, but long-term financial planning and a sustainable tax rate are needed to ensure funding is available to maintain municipal services.
Staff may need to look at reducing its fleet size, turning to multi-use vehicles and adding new efficiencies to increase savings.
French said not only is this budget year an important one, but it will "leave a legacy" for the next and future councils and ratepayers that will have to deal with future budgets and potential shortfalls if the issues are set aside.
French said once the 2010 budget is set, she hopes to take part in a fall session on municipal finances and the level of debt the municipality is willing to take on.
What turned out to be "a year of catch up" still has many
Large capital projects like the Davidson Centre Gym addition, Connaught Park washroom upgrades and the Inverhuron pipeline extension Environmental Assessment.
Ratepayers will also have to consider what level of services they're satisfied with, what they're not and what should or shouldn't be offered.
Bi-weekly garbage pick-up is an example of change, as would be cutting municipally-owned lawns a bit less each summer.
French said constituents are fortunate to pay 25 per cent less taxes than similar-sized communities like Saugeen Shores, which has a smaller land base.
She said it's also time for residents to consider what rate they're willing to pay to maintain the programs and services the community currently enjoys.
Council continued budget talks Monday night.
By TROY PATTERSON
Kincardine News Staff
Date April 14.2010
An unexpected shift in the provincial education tax rate is forcing council to review the municipal tax rate at 10.62 per cent, rather than the 7.15 per cent agreed upon just a few weeks ago.
Treasurer Brenda French told council last week that the municipality has lost approximately $196,000 it projected from the education portion it collects for the province from the Bruce nuclear site assessment. This revenue is a permanent loss and the amount is expected to decrease in the future, as its assessment won’t rise while all other assessments are expected to in 2011 and 2012.
“We can take measures this year to get by,” said French. “Depending on how we deal with this now, we could see compounding difficulties over the next while.”
With other major changes to the budget, from the loss of Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund (OMPF) funds, the first of the Medical Clinic addition loan payments and other capital projects like the Davidson Centre Addition, over $880,000 of the operating budget has come from reserves. She said if it were to be taken from reserves, over $1 million would have been spent, leaving the municipality in a tougher tax rate situation in the future.
French recommended added to the tax rate.
Councillors questioned saddling the public with a 10.62 per cent tax rate, with some looking back on the budget as not sufficient to sustain the municipality into the future.
Deputy Mayor Laura Haight rehashed the amount be spending over the last few years, which council has cut back from $16-$17 million four years ago, to about $11 million. Though operational expenditures haven’t increased drastically, Haight said the losses in funding, from the cut in the Bruce Telecom dividend, loss of OMPF funding and other sources, has created a situation where the municipality is going to be forced to implement a massive increase somewhere in the near future.
“We’re not really in a position where we’ve created a sustainable document,” she said, asking “Are we providing services at the right level on a go-forward basis?”
Haight encouraged council to work on the budget one more time, to see if any more cuts can be made to drop the tax increase to nine or 10 per cent.
Counc. Randy Roppel agreed, saying the municipality is “living beyond its means” and cuts are needed to keep the tax rate down.
“We should review it with an open mind with respect to all the people we support,” said Roppel.
Many other councilors wouldn’t support a 10 per cent increase and agreed to take another look at the budget.
Mayor Larry Kraemer said council should review the current services offered by the municipality and see what could be cut to save costs.
Chief Administrative Officer John deRosenroll said he would instruct staff to review what could be cut and return to council with options this week.
Kraemer questioned if the municipality was raising enough on taxation, in comparison to the services it provides residents. Kraemer said a review of neighbouring municipalities’ services and tax rates may offer information on whether cuts will work, or if a major tax increase is necessary, being that the municipality has one of the lowest tax rates in the county.
“If our expenditures are way off, maybe we are overspending with an artificially low tax rate,” he said. “I don’t see how we’re going to get away with this one.”
By Liz Dadson
Kincardine Times
Kincardine council has given final approval to its 2010 budget with a tax hike of 7.87 per cent.
At the council meeting Wednesday night (April 21), the budget bylaw was actually deferred until after a presentation by the Lake Huron Learning Collaborative.
Deputy mayor Laura Haight requested the deferral because what transpired with the proposed Learning Centre at the former Westario Power building would have a direct impact on the budget.
Council agreed to refer the Learning Centre issue to the May 12 corporate services committee meeting.
It then approved the budget, with the proviso that no money be spent on the old Westario building until the Learning Centre project has been approved by council.