Feature Article April 29,2004
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Budget debate heads for overtimeOn Wednesday of last week a meeting was held in which Central Frontenac councillors went line by line through their budget for 2004, but they didnt finish the job; so after a break from their regular council meeting on Tuesday, the mayor and council spent another afternoon going through the budget. Still they couldnt get it all done, so a third, and probably, final meeting will be held next Monday night in Sharbot Lake to finalize the budget for the year before they bring the budget to their May 10 meeting for approval.
As of Tuesday, all the figures for mandatory transfers for Frontenac County and for education have been received, and only the townships own expenditures are left to be determined.
This year, Mike Wise from Kennebec Lake near Arden, has been attending the budget debates, and he has reported some of the rough figures to the News.
According to Mike Wises figures, the initial staff proposal called for a township budget of just over $6.5 million, about $2 million of which comes to the township from provincial grants and other revenue, leaving $4.5 million to be raised through property taxes, a 36% increase in tax revenue over last year.
During their deliberations, Council has set a goal of reducing that $4.5 million to about $4 million and they have been working in that direction, trying to trim the budget without causing a decrease in essential services. According to Mike Wises calculations, $4 million in taxpayer levies would represent a 20% township tax revenue increase over last year, but due to increases in the total property assessment within the township, it would translate into a township tax rate increase of about 1%.
It is not a sure thing that the $4 million goal will be reached by the township.
What do all these numbers mean? Mike Wise calculates that the overall tax rate will decrease by about 3.5% but the average tax levy will increase by about 10%, but averages dont mean much. In the end people with large property assessment increases will again see large tax increases, and people with small increases or no increase at all could see slight decreases in their municipal taxes.
Once again, the notice received by taxpayers last November from the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation will be a large determining factor in how much each individual will be paying in municipal tax in 2004.
We will have more details when the budget is finalized next week.
