Huron-Kinloss looking at 6.3% tax increase
By Liz Dadson

Huron-Kinloss Council

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Taxpayers in Huron-Kinloss Township could be facing an overall rate increase of 6.3% this year.

That's only tentative as the township waits for Bruce County to set its budget so the county levy and the education tax can be rolled into the final numbers collected by the municipality. The county should finalize its budget by the end of April.

At the general committee meeting Monday night (April 6), council deliberated over whether to go with a low rate, 5.9%, or the higher rate, 6.3%, as presented by treasurer Jodi MacArthur.

Mayor Mitch Twolan, who was absent for the last budget meeting, joined deputy mayor Wilf Gamble and councillors Jim Hanna and Jeff Elliott on the higher rate, while councillors Anne Eadie, Don Murray and Lillian Abbott preferred the lower rate.

Twolan made it clear that the township is actually cutting its mill rate by 1.35% but this is a reassessment year so many ratepayers are going to see their taxes increase if their assessment went up.

In dollars and cents, MacArthur said the difference between option A and B was about $13 on an average $200,000 home. Overall, the taxes on an average home would increase to $2,359.93 from $2,227.68, a hike of about $130.

 

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11/04/2009 10:53 PM

 Eadie voted for the lower rate because even the 5.9% is only an average, meaning many ratepayers are going to be paying more than that. "The average person receives a pay raise of 3% per year which means their income doubles in 24 years. If taxes are increased by 6%, they will double in only 12 years," she said. "I can't go with the higher rate because it means a huge spread between income and taxes."

"We need to fix our roads," said Hanna.
"We would need an increase of 15% per year to do that," said Eadie. "We need the provincial and federal grants to fix our roads. Otherwise, the taxes will be too high for any our of ratepayers."

At the end, the 6.3% tax hike won out by a 4-3 vote.

The tax rate was to be come forward at the April 20 council meeting but that may change, given the county budget delay.
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