Richmond Hill eyes 1% cap on property tax increase in 2020

Staff is looking to raise user fees by up to 5 per cent

Yorkregion.com
November 6, 2019
Sheila Wang

Richmond Hill residents may see lower tax increases but higher fees using public facilities next year.

Council received a staff report at a budget meeting Oct. 22 that set to keep the municipal portion of property tax increase at or below  one per cent in 2020.

Staff has begun to look for ways to hit the target, which is expected to be much lower than the 2.07 per cent tax increase in 2019, according to Treasurer David Dexter who presented the 2019 interim year-end operating forecast.

The treasurer said staff is currently looking to raise user fees by up to 5 per cent from the current level, as one of the ways to keep the tax increase low.

A 5-per cent hike levied on the public who uses public services, community programs or rents public facilities will bring Richmond Hill a total of 1.4 million extra in revenue, Dexter said.

In total, the city plans to charge 1,350 fees in the coming year, including 70 new fees, according to the report.

While the fees are expected to go up in varying degrees, children and youth programs are likely to be most affected by the proposed changes.

The report stated a majority of the city's programs and services for the young users will see a markup higher than 5 per cent in 2020.

Meanwhile, staff is working to find saving and efficiencies in non-personnel costs as well as seeking alternative ways of managing staffing needs other than adding new hires.

Dexter said the city had identified in the previous report the staff needs in 2020 in multiple departments including the library, the fire department and the planning department.

In order to improve cost efficiency, the staff are going to find ways to address these needs through reorganizations and efficiencies from technology updates, Dexter told council.

“I’m expecting that there will be opportunities for us to understand by getting it down to 1 per cent only increase, that there are things, services that we’ll not have,” Mayor Dave Barrow said, asking staff about possible service reduction and removal.

Mary-Anne Dempster, corporate and financial commissioner responded that any proposed changes on services will come to council for approval before proceeding.

She added, the city is looking at delivering the services “differently, not reducing it.”

“There should be no uncertainty in the message. If any fearmongering is going on, it needs to stop,” Coun. Greg Beros said.

The councillor who applauded the tax increase target as an “exciting opportunity,” asked his fellow councillors to choose the words “wisely” to prevent misunderstanding.

“I’m sorry if I put you into any fear. That was not my intention,” the mayor responded.

Acknowledging the one per cent tax increase was a “good target,” Coun. David West wanted to remind the residents that the actual impact of the number may not be as significant as people expected.

The about 2 per cent increase in 2019 means that an average homeowner pays an additional $39 on the municipal portion of their annual tax bill, The Liberal reported.

But the total amount of their property tax bill may have seen a bigger jump than that after tallying up the York Region levy and the education levy, based on the assessed value of their property.

“However, I think we do need to make sure that we’re providing the service that the people need because the 0.5 per cent reduction on your tax bill is not going be, in many cases, as important as the absence of the service that someone really needs,” West said.

As one of the first steps council took, representatives decided to eliminate the internal courier service which the report stated mainly benefited the city’s departments only and had minimal public use.

The service costs the city $69,000 a year to pick up and deliver mails and printed materials to and from Canada Post, to various city facilities, as well as deliver paper meeting agendas to council and committee members.

Staff also recommended council change the way the city publicizes notices and events by dropping the two-page Bulletin Board in the local newspaper The Liberal.

Council voted to request more information and is expected to make a decision at the next budget meeting on Nov. 26.