Public meeting June 6 on 2.5% tax hike
The city’s 2019 budget could potentially impose a tax hike of 2.5 per cent, according to a new city staff report that councillors received on Monday at City Hall.
Councillors were simply receiving the report on Monday evening – they didn’t discuss or debate the prospective tax hike.
Instead, they will hear from citizens at a public meeting on June 6 at 7 p.m.; people will be invited to speak up about their spending priorities.
Then councillors will consider asking staff, at a meeting on June 25, to develop draft budget documents for 2019 with the 2.5 per cent increase in mind.
Budget talks by the new city council will take place in January 2019, following the municipal election Oct. 22.
For an average taxpayer with a house assessed at $251,700, a tax increase of 2.5 per cent would add $98 to the tax bill (bringing that bill up to a total of $4,035.91).
City treasurer Richard Freymond told councillors on Monday that for 2019 staff won’t recommend “enhancing” the sum set aside for construction projects, as they’ve done in recent years.
That’s because the new casino is expected to be in operation for all of 2019 (the projected opening date will be sometime late in the summer or in fall).
Thanks to a revenue-sharing agreement with the casino, the city can expect $1.35 million in city coffers for those last months of 2018.
But in 2019, when the casino is open for a full year, the city staff report states that the city can expect $4 million in revenues.
City staff has recommended to council in the past that casino revenues be used for construction projects and not for municipal services.
Meanwhile there are added costs in 2019 related to the casino.
Last year council permitted the developer of the casino to start reconfiguring Crawford Dr. and Harper Rd. at its own expense, for example, with the expectation that the city would pay back the $8-million cost to Great Canadian Gaming Corp.
The plan was for the city to pay back half that money — $4 million – in 2018, with the other half due in 2019.
Council will also have to figure out how to finance its part on building a new $54-million twinpad arena and pool complex.
Although the province has promised $18 million toward that project, and the federal government may also offer a grant, the city will still face “a significant financial challenge” in coming up with the balance of the money, the report states.
The minimum wage hike is also expected to cost the city money in 2019.
If the wage increase kicks in as planned, the minimum wage will reach $15 an hour on Jan. 1, 2019.
The report states that will cost the city roughly $100,000 in 2019 (the city employs people on contract to do minimum-wage jobs such as cleaning and security).