Development charges could soon be rising in Quinte West after a study found the current charges aren’t recovering enough funds for the municipality.
During Wednesday’s council meeting, Sean-Michael Stephen from Watson and Associates Economists, presented a study the company did on the municipal development charges. The study comes as the municipality is preparing to review the development charges by-law, which is done every five years to ensure the charges accurately reflect the municipality’s costs associated with new development.
The study recommended an increase on residential development charges for single family homes from $15,000 per unit to $37,000, an increase of 146%.
Development charges are levied on new properties being built, to offset increased municipal spending to provide various services to that property and its residents. The charges contribute to roads, water infrastructure, public parks, transit, garbage collection and more. The development charges allow for new developments to cover the cost of new services without burdening existing residents.
The report outlined the increasing cost of projects to serve new developments as the major reason for the proposed increase. The report outlined a predicted cost of nearly $250 million to service new homes over the next 10 to 20 years. Water and wastewater services made up 85% of that predicted cost.
Growth estimates for the area predict an 8% population growth over 10 years, and 15% over 20 years.
In a comparison with other local municipalities, it was found that Quinte West is currently charging significantly less than nearby municipalities. Belleville’s current development charge for a single family home is $30,000 while Prince Edward County’s is $46,000.
Councillor David McCue said the large increase would likely be unpopular with land developers.
“As a council, we have to figure out a way to pay the bills,” said Councillor McCue. “It’s another revenue stream coming in, hopefully we can find some savings to the taxpayers at tax time.”
Councillor Duncan Armstrong said he didn’t think increasing the development charge would impact the number of homes built. “Some are saying it’s way too high, they’re not going to develop, which I don’t believe is true,” he said. “We have a developer in Belleville paying higher developmental charges to develop there. So that one doesn’t hold sand with me.”
Council voted to accept the report, but hasn’t taken any action yet, with stakeholder meetings set to begin in July.
