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A modest tax hike in 2010
08 June 2010
The good news is that Collingwood residents face only a very modest tax increase in 2010: 0.0030% according to a sheet provided by the treasurer, Monday night. On a house assessed at $200,000 that translates to a $0.08 increase over 2009's taxes. Whew. That's a bullet dodged for most of us.
The bad news is that it's not because of Collingwood's efforts to be economical. It's because the county and the boards of education collectively showed their wisdom in the face of an economic slowdown and lowered their levies enough to counteract Collingwood's expected tax increase.
Here's how it goes: Collingwood's tax increase was pegged at an average 2.51%. Average is a bit misleading because it doesn't take into account those many assessment increases most of us got from MPAC this year. So while the town's average increase might have been just over 2.5%, your home's assessment could have risen 30% or more, so your tax increase would be much greater than what the town's average is.
I commented last night that it was too bad Collingwood could not have shown the same sense of fiscal leadership as the county and boards of ed. Wouldn't it be a treat for residents I asked, if we could deliver a tax cut to them, instead of another increase? Well, if we didn't have such high legal bills fighting pointless battles like the mayor's fight against education development charges, we might have to raise less money from your taxes. And we'd certainly have a lot more money in our collective coffers had the mayor and his supporters allowed the Admiral Collingwood development to proceed - money we now have to pry from you, the taxpayer.
The county's decrease is 3.13%, the education decrease is 4.37%. Against a home assessed at $200,000 that translates into a decrease of $17.74 and $22, respectively. Collingwood, on the other had, slapped a $39.82 increase on your taxes, negating the decreases from the other sectors.*
Of course this doesn't take into account the 4% increase in your utility bills (a 4% per year for water and hydro for the next 15 years was approved by the majority of council, but not by me). Nor does it factor in the rising cost of living, rising interest rates, the province's consumer-hostile HST, our town's increased user fees and on and on. So your costs are still going up - just the municipal tax portion won't rise by very much in 2010.
~~~~~
* Since the average house price in Collingwood is $269,000, I'm not sure why we use a low-ball figure like $200,000. It may even be as high as $279,000 now. I can't recall the exact figure our treasurer gave at budget time when I asked about it.
The bad news is that it's not because of Collingwood's efforts to be economical. It's because the county and the boards of education collectively showed their wisdom in the face of an economic slowdown and lowered their levies enough to counteract Collingwood's expected tax increase.
Here's how it goes: Collingwood's tax increase was pegged at an average 2.51%. Average is a bit misleading because it doesn't take into account those many assessment increases most of us got from MPAC this year. So while the town's average increase might have been just over 2.5%, your home's assessment could have risen 30% or more, so your tax increase would be much greater than what the town's average is.
I commented last night that it was too bad Collingwood could not have shown the same sense of fiscal leadership as the county and boards of ed. Wouldn't it be a treat for residents I asked, if we could deliver a tax cut to them, instead of another increase? Well, if we didn't have such high legal bills fighting pointless battles like the mayor's fight against education development charges, we might have to raise less money from your taxes. And we'd certainly have a lot more money in our collective coffers had the mayor and his supporters allowed the Admiral Collingwood development to proceed - money we now have to pry from you, the taxpayer.
The county's decrease is 3.13%, the education decrease is 4.37%. Against a home assessed at $200,000 that translates into a decrease of $17.74 and $22, respectively. Collingwood, on the other had, slapped a $39.82 increase on your taxes, negating the decreases from the other sectors.*
Of course this doesn't take into account the 4% increase in your utility bills (a 4% per year for water and hydro for the next 15 years was approved by the majority of council, but not by me). Nor does it factor in the rising cost of living, rising interest rates, the province's consumer-hostile HST, our town's increased user fees and on and on. So your costs are still going up - just the municipal tax portion won't rise by very much in 2010.
~~~~~
* Since the average house price in Collingwood is $269,000, I'm not sure why we use a low-ball figure like $200,000. It may even be as high as $279,000 now. I can't recall the exact figure our treasurer gave at budget time when I asked about it.
I don't think there is much doubt who is running Collingwood these days.