Brace for tax hike, Vaughan, as council debates for last time tonight


Yorkregion.com
April 1, 2015
By Adam Martin-Robbins

Vaughan council is slated to finalize the city’s budget tonight. Local representatives are poised to impose a 2.86-per cent tax hike.

That means the average homeowner, with a house valued at $587,000, must fork over an extra $37 toward the city’s portion of the property tax bill.

On top of that, property owners have to pay the Region of York tax levy and the province’s education tax, which together account for about 70 per cent of your bill.

If the budget passes unchanged, the tax hike will go to help fund a $259.1-million operating budget and a $92.7-million capital budget.

That latter amount goes toward work on a number of projects including Carrville Community Centre and library; two artificial turf soccer fields at North Maple Regional Park; renovations at Kleinburg United Church to create a community space; water main replacement and planting a few thousand trees.

It’s not just your property tax bill that is slated to rise this year.

You’ll also be paying more to take a shower, wash your clothes and flush the toilet.

The combined water and wastewater rate, set by the City of Vaughan and the Region of York, is to be jacked up to $3.391 per cubic metre from $3.0856 per cubic metre, an increase of 9.9 per cent.

That translates into an extra $91.59 a year - or $7.63 per month - for the average user who consumes about 300 cubic metres per year, according to a city staff report.

The rate hike is expected to generate an additional $12.8 million for the water and wastewater system.

Of the 9.9-per cent increase, about 6.4 per cent comes from the region while 3.5 per cent is driven by the city.

The increase is slated to take effect in the billing cycle after council approves the budget.

Check back here Thursday for a full report on what this means to Vaughan taxpayers.