Council to Consider Second Reading of Budget and Tax Rates Bylaws on April 22nd
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The annual Five Year Financial Plan Bylaw and Tax Rates Bylaw will be presented for second and third reading at the April 22nd Council meeting which begins at 5:30 p.m. in the Council Chamber.
Council is required to adopt these bylaws each year by May 15th. The five year budget sets out revenue and expenses, debt payments, and transfers from and to reserves for the next five years. It also sets policy on proportion of revenue from funding sources, the distribution of property taxes among property classes, and the use of permissive tax exemptions. View highlights of the proposed five year budget and the budget open house package.
Distribution of Property Taxes Among Property Classes
Council is proposing to change the tax ratio between property classes (e.g. residential, business, light industry) for 2013. This means the proportion of taxes collected from light industry, business and managed forest would increase in 2013.
- Residential: base at 1
- Light Industry: from 1.76 to 2
- Business: from 1.71 to 2
- Managed Forest: from 2.10 to 2.6
Council policy has been to increase all tax classes equally. However the property value assessment base for the business class decreased in the 2012 and 2013 tax years which has increased the residential class tax rate. The proposed change for 2013 will increase the ratio of taxes collection from light industry, business and managed forest compared to the residential class.
Tax Rates Bylaw
The tax rates bylaw establishes the rates required to collect property tax revenue from all types of property in 2013.
Council is proposing an additional $38,916 to be collected in property taxes for municipal purposes in 2013 which translates to a 2% increase. A total of $2,041,118 is proposed to be collected for municipal purposes. This amount does not include taxes collected for other authorities such as the School District and the Comox Valley Regional District.
See the April 22nd Council meeting agenda to be posted on April 19th for more information and to view the proposed bylaws.
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