Taxes in Quinte West will go up about 2.9% this year after councillors passed the 2019 operating budget on Monday.
The spending plan totals close to $76 million with $48.7 million of that funded through the tax levy, meaning taxes will go up about $90 per year on the average home in the city, assessed at $255,000.
You can click here to read the operating budget approval report and click here for the full operating budget breakdown.
Mayor Jim Harrison says taxes have to go up because there’s a lot to pay for, but he thinks city staff kept things in check.
Quinte West Mayor Jim Harrison, during a meeting of Quinte West Council, on March 18, 2019. (Photo: David Foot / Quinte News)
The city will also issue more than $754,000 worth of grants to organizations like the Quinte Humane Society, Field of Ability, local hospital foundations and more, with a full breakdown of those commitments outlined below.
However, there was one change made in regards to some grant funding for a proposed natural history museum.
Museum organizers had asked for $4 million over 10 years, amounting to $200,000 per year each in monetary and in-kind support, but many councillors felt that was too much money to spend on a project that hasn’t yet come to fruition.
Councillor Sally Freeman proposed an amendment to put the same amount of money into a reserve fund for the museum, which would give council more control over that money.
Freeman’s motion also notes that if museum organizers aren’t steadily raising funds towards the proposed $15 million project, that the city can withhold the money it has collected in that reserve.
Here is the list of proposed grant payments to be made in 2019:
- Natural History Museum – $200,000 (into a reserve fund)
- Quinte Humane Society – $62,500 (per year for four years)
- Field of Ability – $50,000 (one time donation)
- Highway of Heroes – $25,000 (per year for four years)
- Community Grant Fund – $50,000
- Loyalist College – $100,000
- Trenton Memorial Hospital Foundation – $100,000
- Kingston General Hospital Foundation – $80,000
- National Air Force Museum of Canada – $37,000
- CITY Youth Group – $40,000
- Frankford Youth Group – $10,000
