Vaughan hospital levy slated to come off property tax bill by 2022

YorkRegion.com
Sept. 6, 2016
By Adam Martin-Robbins

Vaughan remains on track to strip the hospital levy off your property tax bill by 2022.

A staff report, presented to councillors Tuesday, notes from 2009 to 2015 Vaughan collected about $38.1 million toward the $80 million it contributed to purchase and develop the 82-acre hospital site.
 
Given that, city staff are still projecting the total amount will be recovered within 13 years, rather than the 20 years originally forecast.

The city, in 2009, imposed a special tax rate increase of 5.45 per cent, phased-in over five years, to raise the $80 million. That worked out to an annual levy of about $60 per year for the average homeowner.

The bulk of the city’s $80-million contribution, about $61 million, went toward purchasing the property at Major Mackenzie Drive and Jane Street that will house the Mackenzie Vaughan Hospital, slated to open in 2019.

The city has committed an additional $37.4 million toward design and construction of the road network, stormwater management, traffic lights and landscaping among other things.

The city and hospital corporation, Mackenzie Health, reached a cost-sharing agreement that will see Vaughan reimbursed for a portion of those costs.