Huron Expositor, 2015-05-13, Page 22 Huron Expositor • Wednesday, May 13, 2015
Huron East council approves 4.91 per cent tax hike
Marco Vigliotti
Huron Expositor
Homeowners in Huron East will
be paying more in property taxes
this year, even as the municipality
sharply slashes capital spending
and scraps several planned road
construction projects in the
recently approved 2015 budget.
The $13.4 million spending plan,
unanimously passed by council at
the May 5 meeting, hikes the
municipal levy by 9.8 per cent -
working out to an overall property
tax rate increase of 4.91 per cent
when combined with the county
and education rates.
That translates into a $27.14
increase on the tax bills for Sea -
forth residents with a property
assessed at $100,000.
Residents in the former town
with the average assessment of
$166,799 will pay about $1,025 in
property taxes this year, according
to figures presented by the munici-
pality's treasurer Paula Michiels.
Brussels ratepayers with the
same assessment can expect to pay
$1,004 in property taxes in 2015,
while those in McKillop will see the
smallest average bill at $733, she
said.
Water and sewer rates, however,
will remain frozen at 2014 levels,
except for Brussels residents who
will see their service fees flipped.
Ratepayers in the village will now
pay $46 a month for water services
and $36 for sewer costs.
Michiels said the tax increase
was required to offset declining
contributions from the Ontario
Municipal Partnership Fund
(OMPF) and growing expenses,
including a roughly $83,000 - or 7.3
per cent - hike in the amount
charged by the Ontario Provincial
Police for its services.
According to statistics presented
to council, the municipality will see
a $340,000 deduction in revenue
from OMPF in 2015, coming on the
heels of a roughly $331,000 loss last
year.
Michiels fingered plummeting
OMPF funding as the main driver
for robust hikes to the municipal
levy in recent years, which has now
risen by 31 per cent between 2012
and 2015.
Meanwhile, OMPF contributions
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to the municipality have dropped
by roughly $916,000 over that same
span, she noted.
"Now when we look at that from
our municipal levy, that's 25 per
cent of that 31 per cent increase,"
Michiels said of the OMPF funding
cuts. "So we (the municipality)
have only actually increased the
municipal portion of it....by six per
cent."
As part of the belt -tightening to
offset the declining provincial
funding, the municipality reduced
capital spending this year by over
$1,100,000 to $2,238,680 from just
under $3,300,000 in 2014.
That represents a 32 per cent
decline.
Among the causalities of the
spending cuts were planned
upgrades to the municipality's
phone system and reconstruction
of parts of Sills, Franklin and
Church streets in Seaforth.
A report by Michiels earlier this
year cautioned that the municipal-
ity's road asset inventory risk report
rated Sills Street as having a "high
probability of failure and a very
high consequence of failure."
While Church and Franklin were
also included the highest age -
based risk category in the asset
report, the conditions on those
roadways are "not as bad as those
on Sills Street," Michiels wrote at
the time.
All of those projects will be
deferred for consideration in next
year's budget.
In this year's budget, capital
spending allotments for all catego-
ries were reduced from 2014 levels
- some quite significantly - except
for transportation, which will rise
from $1,258,000 to just under
$1,730,000.
The biggest declines in funding
were for environmental costs,
down from $1,381,000 to just shy of
$410,000; protection services, fall-
ing from $305,000 to $27,000; and
parks and recreation, sliding from
$283,335 to $60,000.
Transportation constitutes 77
per cent of all capital spending in
the 2015 budget.
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money for several significant
equipment purchases this year,
such as a new grader, valued at
$330,000, and a $180,000 loader.
Michiels listed finishing work on
Turnberry Street in Brussels and
repaving asphalt on Browntown
Road and Moncrieff Road as the
major public works projects
included in the budget.
Meanwhile, the largest expenses
for the municipality in 2015 are
water/sewers, emergency services
and transportation, Michiels wrote
in a report presented to council.
According to statistics presented
to council, the municipal and
county levies constitute 40 per cent
each of the tax bill for Huron East
ratepayers, with the education levy
making up the remaining 20 per
cent.
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