County residents may pay a little less come tax time this year due to an unexpected jump in inflation – if county council ever passes its mill rate, that is.
Council voted 3-2 against first reading of its 2013 taxation rates bylaw Tuesday. Councillors Tom Flynn and Joe Milligan were in favour, while David Kluthe, Don McGeachy and Mayor Don Rigney were opposed.
Council passed the 2012 budget last year with a 5.89 per cent municipal tax hike, reads a report to council.
But that assumed that inflation would stay at about zero like it did last year, said Rick Wojtkiw of the county’s corporate services department in an interview. Instead, it turned out to be about 2.9 per cent. The county also grew by about 3.4 per cent ($141 million), which was slightly more than expected.
As growth and inflation have outpaced the rise in the school tax (which was four per cent), Wojtkiw said the average homeowner will actually pay about $10 less in provincial school tax this year than they did last year (instead of $44 more as predicted last winter).
The net result is that the average homeowner will see their tax bills rise by $98, Wojtkiw said, instead of $121 as predicted last fall.
The proposed percentage hike will still be 5.89 per cent, Wojtkiw said, meaning the county will collect $637,864 more than expected. Administration proposed putting this into reserves, but council could direct otherwise.
Kluthe said he could not support first reading. “We’ve got over half a million dollars extra. It should be returned to taxpayers.”
County commissioner Peter Tarnawsky noted that council could make that happen, but only if first reading was on the table.
McGeachy said he wanted more information before he supported first reading. “I didn’t support the budget, and I’m not going to support first reading.”
Flynn urged council to support first reading, noting that delaying it could push back when tax notices go out and affect many local municipalities. “We want to keep tax rates as low as we can,” he said, but we also have to consider adjustments to the budget that might be needed. The county is burning up a lot of its contingency fund this year, and council needs to figure out how much its residents should pay.
In an interview, Tarnawsky said administration would bring back a revised tax law for May 14. Council would either have to call a special meeting or do three readings in one meeting in order to get tax notices printed on schedule.
It should be noted that, as the April 23 meeting progressed, Flynn continued to press for another vote on first reading. However, due to printing deadlines the Gazette was unable to report on that by press time.
Assuming the tax rates are approved on May 14, taxes would be due June 28.
