Based on information provided during a Jan. 12 public meeting, residents in Puslinch can expect to pay 2.43% more in taxes this year.
The Jan. 12 public meeting on the Puslinch Township draft 2017 budget was attended by only a handful of people outside of council members and staff.
At the meeting’s outset, Puslinch Mayor Dennis Lever stated council planned to approve the budget at its Jan. 18 meeting (results of that meeting were not known by press time).
Treasurer Mary Hasan presented key highlights of the budget and background information for 2017, noting initial budget discussion began with department heads in September.
Hasan stated that for each dollar of property taxes collected, the township receives 17 cents. The current division of property taxes is 17% municipal, 64% county and 19% education.
Township spending
Of the 17 cents per dollar the township collects, Hasan said 76% ($2,642,213) goes towards operations while the remaining 24% ($840,866) is invested in capital projects.
She noted funding components include user fees, building permit revenues, grants, and other items, “But the tax levy is the biggest portion.”
With this money, Hasan explained the township provides:
– parks and recreation;
– fire and rescue services;
– public works;
– bylaw enforcement;
– planning / development;
– building services; and
– general government (council and committees, corporate costs and finance).
Hasan explained that overall, the proposed budget resulted in a local tax levy drop of $13,546 or 0.39%. Capital increased by $24,896 to maintain township assets – specifically roads.
However, Hasan noted the township operating budget decreased by $38,442.
While there was an increase of various revenue line items based on 2016 actuals, decreased costs were attributed to cost savings and organizational structure changes.
Even with the overall decrease, the budget includes a cost of living adjustment of 1.5% for staff and Manulife premium increase of 4.8%.
Hasan said 2017 roll returns for the township have shown an industrial assessment decrease for the municipality of $23.5 million.
Part of that was attributed to gravel pit reassessments, effective in 2017, that resulted in a substantial loss of township revenue. Hasan said this has also impacted the county assessment.
She noted the new method of gravel pit assessments is a result of appeals by the gravel industry to the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation from 2009 to 2016.
Hasan said this was an Ontario-wide issue and created significant tax losses.
She said 2017 levies are actually lower than 2016 levies … so there is a lesser impact to the residential tax rate.
Local impact
The overall local impact on an average single detached dwelling ($582,500) is $28.18 or 3%.
Part of that increase is due to the average assessment of residential dwellings, which increased by 3.28% from $564,000 in 2016 to $582,500 in 2017.
Once the county rate (to be approved later this month) and education rates are factored in, the overall tax increase is expected to be about 2.43%.
Projects slated for public works include:
– bridge and culvert inspections;
– Ellis Road from Wellington Road 32 to Townline;
– Nassagaweya-Puslinch townline;
– a new pickup truck with plow and salter; and
– Laird Rd (from Wellington Road 32 to Downey Road).
