Tax rate remains status quo in Town of Stellarton
The Town of Stellarton is holding the line on its taxes in the upcoming fiscal year, with both commercial and residential rates remaining the same as they were in 2017-18.
The residential tax rate will remain at $1.82 per $100 of assessment, and the commercial tax rate $4.15.
Stellarton released its budget at its regular meeting on June 11, revealing that it is also anticipating some growth in the coming year.
“As it’s been mentioned, there is no change to the tax rate,” said Mayor Danny MacGillivray, adding that “revenue from taxation is flat for the last few years, but the cannabis factory coming to Stellarton, and the sale of land in the Albion Business Park should make it grow — we hope to see some growth.”
Overall, the Town of Stellarton has a total operating budget of $7,755,973 for the 2018-19 fiscal year.
Stellarton anticipates a total tax revenue of $6,588,413 for 2018-19. This constitutes a small decrease in revenue from the previous year. Stellarton expects to take in residential taxes of $3,281,751 — and a total revenue from commercial tax collection of $3,306,662.
Memorial Rink
The town is expecting a total revenue of $201,500 from the Stellarton Memorial Rink in the 2018-19 fiscal year. This is an amount that is up from the 201718 year, when revenue raised totalled $209,268.
Total operating expenditures for the rink for 2018-19 are expected to be $350,900. This is expected to result in a deficit of $149,400. To cover this, Stellarton will be transferring that amount from its general operating fund into the rink budget.
Water utility
Total operating revenue collected from the water utility for the Town of Stellarton is anticipated to be $1,833,315 — an amount that shows a decrease from the $1,861,098 collected in the 2017-18 fiscal year. Operating expenditures for 2018-19 are expected to total $1,434,083.
General fund
For the 2018-19 fiscal year’s capital investment plan, the town is working with $824,500. This includes $344,556 from the gas tax, $100,000 in Municipal Corporation financing and $379,944 from the general capital reserve.
The capital investment plan includes $345,000 set aside to repave local streets including Pineview Crescent, Juniper Street, Allan Avenue, Bridge Avenue, MacKenzie Lane, Celtic Court, Poplar Crescent, Poplar Street and Grant Street and the basketball courts.
Stellarton intends to invest in a number of upgrades in the 2018-19 fiscal year. Town property investments include work on the library roof ($75,000), replacement of the library boiler ($26,000), a study and design for the public works building ($25,000) and lamp posts for the town hall ($4,500).