Residents in Quinte West can expect an increase on their tax bills if council approves this year’s operating budget.
Council will be holding a special meeting on Monday night to discuss a potential 2.82% increase proposed by staff.
On a home assessed at $250,000. a 2.82% percent increase would translate to between $76.00 and $99.00 more in local taxes a year depending on which ward one lives in, with Trenton at the high end and Frankford at the low end.
A number of non-growth-related increases and decreases have led the city to need to cover $1.75 million in additional revenue.
These increases include an additional 1% towards the Capital Levy for $12 million annually which allows the city to incrementally build towards a financially sustainable infrastructure renewal program. Another $300,000 will be split between housing and climate change initiatives for programs which will begin in the next few years. The largest impact on the budget was the $1 million decrease in the Federal Payment in Lieu of Taxes from CFB Trenton. This year’s PILT is $8.3 million instead of the $9.3 million, which was budgeted for.
The provincial government reduced the business education tax rates in 2020 year to provide financial relief to small businesses. Municipalities retain the education taxes paid by PILT properties. The federal government has since made the decision to continue to make PILT contributions at the new lowered rate, costing Quinte West approximately one million dollars.
Director of Finance Caleb DenOuden said this year, they lowered the PILT to $8.3 million to because they haven’t heard if the new lower PILT rate is the rate in which the federal government will continue to pay for federally owned land, such as CFB Trenton, or not.
There are a number of options proposed if council is against the 2.82% increase and would limit the levy increase to 1.93%.
Council will meet on Monday night at 6:30 p.m.
You can find the proposed budget and staff report here.
