Markham passes $521-million budget with no tax increase

“This current year has brought unprecedented challenges for residents and businesses and we are committed to lessening the burden to our property taxpayers": Mayor Frank Scarpitti

Yorkregion.com
Dec. 15

Markham city council unanimously passed the city’s $521-million 2021 budget on Dec. 9, which comes with a zero per cent tax increase for residents next year.

Mayor Frank Scarpitti said the move will help property owners recover from the effects of the pandemic and weather continuing challenges under a second wave of the virus without seeing a loss in the city's current high service levels.

“This current year has brought unprecedented challenges for residents and businesses and we are committed to lessening the burden to our property taxpayers,” he said, adding the city has taken a fiscally responsible approach to managing its finances throughout the pandemic.

A number of factors made the zero per cent increase possible, including $6.6 million in Safe Restart funds allocated to Markham from the federal and provincial governments to mitigate the loss of revenue to city coffers this year due to the pandemic.

Temporary layoffs and staff redeployments provided further cost savings during the past 10 months.

Had council not also made the decision to use $3.6 million from the corporate stabilization reserve fund, however, there would have been a 2.2 per cent increase to property taxes to cover next year's city budget totalling $520.9 million.

Critical, and big-ticket, investments for next year include earmarking $21 million for flood control and stormwater management, $18.4 million for water and wastewater upgrades and $12.4 million for road construction, repair and rehabilitation.

“The 2021 budget ensures there are sufficient funds in the life cycle replacement and capital reserve for the rehabilitation and replacement of city infrastructure for the next 25 years,” said budget vice-chair Coun. Andrew Keyes.

The first phase of the Markham Centre Trail from Warden Avenue to Birchmount Road is part of an $11.7-million investment in new parks and trails that also includes the construction of five new parks: Celebration Park (Ward 7), Blodwen Davies Park (Ward 5), Yonge & Grandview Park (Ward 1), Green Lane Park (Ward 1), Berczy Beckett Park (Ward 6) and Markham Centre Trail Phase 1B (Ward 3).

Council also earmarked $9.4 million for facility improvement, $4.9 million for fleet replacement and repair, $4.9 million for park maintenance and the tree pruning program and $2.6 million for library collection and e-resources.

In anticipation that COVID-19 will continue to financially impact many in 2021, Markham council also approved a new property tax and stormwater fee payment deferral program, available by application for residential and business property owners who require payment flexibility throughout the 2021 taxation year.

In addition, the suspension of the Municipal Accommodation Tax (MAT) from April 1, 2020, to Dec. 31, 2020, to provide relief to hoteliers will continue throughout the 2021 taxation year.

“We know this is a challenging time for many,” said budget chief Coun. Amanda Collucci. “Council and senior staff knew it was important to hold the property tax rate increase at zero per cent, while continuing to offer the excellent services that our community has come to expect.”

The City of Markham retains approximately 25 per cent of the residential property taxes collected, with 51 per cent going to the Region of York and the remaining 24 per cent going to the province for education.