Newmarket residents could pay about $52.69 more in taxes this year

YorkRegion.com
Jan. 14, 2016
By Chris Simon

Your town taxes could soon be on the rise.

Newmarket council will likely approve its nearly $115 million draft operating budget and tentative $26.7-million capital plan during a meeting Monday night. The operating budget includes plans for a 2.99-per-cent increase on the town’s portion of the property tax bill - about $52.69 for the average home assessed at $450,072. The amount includes a .8 per cent infrastructure levy.

When combined with the anticipated York Region and school board portions, the average homeowner will pay an additional $104.89 on their property tax bill this year.

“There’s a lot of work that’s gone into this budget,” Councillor Joe Sponga said, during budget deliberations earlier this week. “We set a very ambitious target and we were able, somewhat, to meet it.”

The capital budget includes funding allocations for projects such as the land acquisition, design and construction of the Central York Fire Services 4-5 station ($7.5 million), roads infrastructure projects (about $5.3 million), a Tom Taylor Trail underpass at Davis Drive (about $1.8 million), the implementation of the water and wastewater master servicing study ($1 million), replacement of all CYFS breathing apparatus ($900,000) and a new fire truck ($800,000).

There was some consideration for removing about $300,000 in funding for renovations to Magna Centre, to convert the restaurant space into a fitness facility, from the capital budget. But since the project now appears to be moving forward, that money will likely be kept in.

“We’re starting to turn the corner on a very important process,” Mayor Tony Van Bynen said. “It captures the balance we always try to seek - tax fairness and service level expectations.”

Operating budgets pay for the ongoing expenses incurred by the municipality, such as wages, fuel, hydro and maintenance costs. Capital budgets usually cover large infrastructure projects - a new recreation facility or road reconstruction, for example - vehicle purchases and other one-time expenses.

“There’s no such thing as an easy budget process,” Regional Councillor John Taylor said. “We were one of the earlier municipalities to start down the road of (an infrastructure levy). While that isn’t exciting for residents in the short-term, in terms of new services, it’s putting the municipality in an incredibly good position five, 10 and 30 years from now.”