County tax hike held to 1%

In what might seem an unusually complicated taxing situation at first blush, Dufferin County's tax rate will decline by 5 per cent for 2010, but higher assessments mean the burden on property owners will rise by about 1 per cent.

By the time county council finished with a draft budget last week, its initial requirement of a 10 per cent hike, which had been trimmed to about 4 per cent in committee, was reduced to a levy of $26,338,815 — a rise of 2.71 per cent from the 2009 levy of $25,643,000.

But the council is expecting a 1.7 per cent growth in new property assessments, which would offset all but 1.1 per cent of the hike in the levy.

Treasurer Alan Selby blames the apparent firstglance tax-rate confusion on the phasing in of a 24 per cent assessment rise over four years.

"Assessment (increase of 24 per cent) is being phased-in. For most people their 2010 assessment used on their tax bill will be up about 6 per cent, but their county tax rate will be down about 5 per cent, which will result in a bottom-line increase in their county-only taxes of about 1 per cent in 2010."

There had been a few reductions in the budget at the committee level prior to last week's council meeting. Among those, a one-time provincial grant for the Early Years education program provided a saving of close to $400,000. There had been a further reduction of about $100,000 by withdrawing an unused $75,000 from Dufferin Oaks reserves, and reducing a variety of other administrative allowances.

At the council last week, Amaranth Deputy Mayor Walter Kolodziechuk, based on his opinion that "there'll be no (economic) improvement in the short term and only modest in the long term," drafted a motion to eliminate the addition of a social housing manager, for what was described as a $127,000 savings.

His motion, which carried by a vote of 25-5, was strongly supported by Shelburne Deputy Mayor Bennington who said, "I thank Wally for bringing that forward. There have to be efficiencies. It brings home the point as, last summer, I watched 700 of my coworkers walk out the door as one shift was laid off.

"I watched my own work week reduced to four days a week," he added.

The county's federal gas tax money of about $1,650,000 annually is being used partly for Dufferin Eco Energy Park development and for road improvements.

For 2010, $1.5 million of that money had been allocated to DEEP. Orangeville Deputy Mayor Warren Maycock queried Public Works Director Trevor Lewis about what funding was actually needed, and moved that $250,000 of the $1.5 million be transferred to roads.

The cumulative effect of all changes has reduced the county's tax hike to a point at which, in the words of the treasurer, "if you paid $1,000 (in county tax), you'll pay $1,010 in 2010."