ERIN – The overall residential property tax rate is declining by 1.45 per cent in the Town of Erin, but some residents may still pay more because of higher property values.
Finance director Ursula D’Angelo reported to Erin councillors on June 18 that final calculations put the rate increase for town taxes at 1.2%, instead of the original estimate of 1.5% when the budget was passed in December.
The ratio of residential taxes to other taxes was affected by extra revenue going to Wellington County, after it cancelled tax breaks for vacant business lands.
The town rate is combined with the county and school board rates to create a blended rate.
With the county rate for Erin down by 1.65% and the education rate down 5.29%, the blended rate provides an average reduction of 1.45%.
If there were no change in property assessments, there would be an additional $3.51 going to the town for each $100,000 of assessed value.
But there would reductions of $10.35 for the county and $9 for education.
The net tax reduction would be $15.84 per $100,000 of assessed value.
Changes in assessment can have different effects on actual taxes.
The total assessed value of properties in Erin has increased by 4.91%, with 1.42% due to new construction or property improvements, and the rest due to real estate values.
The impact will vary by property, but this will push up actual taxes for properties that rise in value more than the local average.
However, when assessment in other parts of Wellington County grows faster than it does in Erin, the county portion of Erin’s blended rate goes down.
The town is collecting about $6.46 million for its general levy and $587,059 for the infrastructure levy.
The county levy is $14.72 million (55% of all taxes collected in Erin), while the education levy for all boards totals $4.74 million (18% of all taxes).
The amount being collected for town purposes in 2019 is $26.51 million (27% of all taxes).
Compared to 2018, the portion of total taxes collected from residential properties has gone down from 87.5% to 86.8%. The commercial portion has gone up from 4.2% to 7%, but the industrial portion has gone down from 2.8% to 0.6%.
The town collects a separate levy totaling $17,200 for the benefit of the Business Improvement Area. There is also a special services charge of $102.73 for each home served by streetlights, collecting revenue of $199,000
