Myth: Council Approved Tax Increase = Property Tax Increase

• Council established a budget to cover the cost of operating the City for 2010. From the approved budget, we know how much revenue is needed to fund the budget.
  
  
• From that number, we deduct user fees, permit fees, grants and other sources of revenue.
  
  
• This leaves us with a pool of money that must be raised from property taxes.

Pool of Money Required from Property Taxes

• Next, we determine what we expect to receive from new properties, addition and completions (growth) and deduct this from the required pool of money. Then we deduct the amount collected in 2009.
  
• The amount we need to generate for 2010 to balance the budget was an additional 3.97%.
  
• This additional 3.97% that is required to generate enough revenue to balance the City’s budget is not connected to your property tax rate increase/decrease in any way. 
  

Additions to the Required Pool of Money

• The City collects taxes for the Province for education.The Province provides us with that number and it is added to the pool.For 2010, it represents 34.03% of your property tax bill. 

So how is my property tax determined?

• Your property tax is made up of two pieces – the municipal piece and the education piece.
  
• The Province says the City must conduct annual assessments so we have a total value of assessments for the City. 

The Municipal Piece 

• The pool of money that is needed by the City is divided by the total assessment base for the City to determine the tax rate.
  
• This tax rate is then applied against your municipal assessment to determine your portion of the pool of money required to balance the 2010 budget.
  
• For 2010, the municipal tax rate increased 13.16% (demonstrating there is absolutely no relation to the 3.97% tax increase approved by City Council to fund the required money for 2010).
  
• However, if the assessed value of your property matched the average decrease of 8.12% in 2010 in the total assessment base, you would experience the 3.97% tax increase approved by City Council on the municipal side.If you experienced a greater shift (or decrease) than the average, your tax increase would be less than the 3.97%.If you experienced a lesser shift than the average, your tax increase would be more than the 3.97%.
  
• Your tax increase is dependent upon your share of the total assessment base.
  

The Education Piece

• Added to this is your portion of the education request from the Province (again, this is based on your individual assessment and the total assessment for the City).

• For 2010, the education tax rate increased 15.81%.
  

What if my property tax was even higher than that?

• There are many reasons why your property tax bill may be higher than the overall average.It could be because you were only partially assessed in 2009 (development wasn’t complete), because you did renovations or additions, or because the market value in your area shifted significantly. 

   

  
  

How do I compare to other properties in the City?    

• 90.5% of single family residential properties saw a decrease in their assessed value. 87.87% of all properties experienced a property tax increase.
  

Ultimate Goal of the City

• It is the ultimate goal of the City to ensure that we have accurate and complete assessment and taxation ledgers to ensure that each and every property is paying their fair share

  
  

  Myth:Busted!