Average Newmarket taxpayer faces $124 hike in 2020

In addition to $134.6 million in operating funds, council is expected to approve $37.8 million in new spending in 2020

Newmarkettoday.ca
Nov. 26, 2019
Kim Champion

If the Town of Newmarket’s 2020 budget is approved by council Dec. 2, you can expect to pay an additional $124 in taxes if you own the average residential property assessed at $618,750.

The regional portion of your tax bill is anticipated to reflect a 2.96 per cent increase, or a $62 increase.

All new rates take effect Jan. 1, 2020.

The all-in tax bump of 2.39 per cent for the average resident includes an extra $60 on the annual property tax bill, $60 for water and wastewater, and an additional $4 for stormwater, which began to be invoiced separately in 2019.

“It is a beautiful day in the neighbourhood, we have a wonderful budget here today,” financial services director Mike Mayes said at this morning’s budget meeting. “We can lose sight of the magnitude of the operation here, which is an operation of ($172.4 million a year).”

Mayes said the process this time around marked a different approach to the town’s budgeting, one that saw “a lot of curve balls thrown at the team”.

“They’ve certainly stepped up to the plate,” Mayes said. “The changes we’ve made from a capital and operating budget perspective have not been small and I want to thank the team for all the work they put in.”

For example, projects with approved budgets that are not ready to go ahead -- to the tune of $60 million -- will no longer be rolled over to successive budgets. Instead, only projects that are "shovel-ready" will find the funds earmarked in a given year.

As a consequence, some projects have been deferred to future years, such as improvements to the Gorman pool and construction of pavilions and a boardwalk at Fairy Lake.

Mayor John Taylor noted that staff met the challenge of hitting specific targets in the 2020 budget, including a tax increase of less than three per cent, and a full one per cent infrastructure levy to help the town maintain its facilities.

In addition to $134.6 million in operating funds needed to run the town, which includes funding for Central York Fire Services, Newmarket Public Library, and more, council is expected to approve $37.8 million in new spending in 2020.

Here are some of the projects green-lighted for 2020:

• Replace the south stairs with seating at the Old Town Hall: $200,000
• Hollingsworth Arena demolition: $440,000
• Mulock estate concept master plan (for future park development): $300,000
• Replace carpet at the Elman W. Campbell Museum: $30,000

About 250 residents participated in the town’s 2020 budget game. Approximately one quarter of the participants said they were satisfied with all services equally.

The remaining participants ranked the municipal services fairly equally with roads, bridges and sidewalks and fire services ranking slightly higher. Fire services had the highest No. 1 ranking with 33 per cent, followed by roads, bridges and sidewalks at 19 per cent.

Here’s what you said regarding how you would like to see the town invest your tax dollars:

• “I realize the library would never be the top priority, but would like it to receive extra funding.”
• “Newmarket is a great town that offers its residents a lot of amenities and services for the taxes they pay. I would encourage Council to continue to strive to keep taxes low while continuing to find efficiencies in the services provided.”
• “A lot of roads are in bad shape. I’ve only seen bylaw officers once, they should be out more. People park all over the place.”
• “Bylaw enforcement could use more attention to customer experience. Processes are complicated and not user friendly. Warnings for parking infractions and better information about parking and building bylaws would help people comply. Feels like a cash grab instead of helping community.”
• “Stop using money on park upgrades every few years. It's different kids using the park at that point.”

To view the budget meeting and read more about the Town of Newmarket’s budgets for 2020, visit here.