Amherstburg residents will pay another 3 per cent on their property tax bill this year.
Town councillors approved the operating and capital budgets. Final approval is likely at their next meeting on March 13.
2/ Council was able to lower the proposed tax rate from 4.23% to 3% which is equivalent to an additional $31.20 per year for every $100,000 in assessed value, or $0.60 cents per week.
— Linden Crain (@LindenCrain) February 28, 2023
Ahead of budget deliberations, it looked like the increase would be 4.23 per cent, but Mayor Michael Prue set a target of below 3 per cent.
Municipalities across Canada are struggling to keep increases to a minimum despite rising inflation, construction costs, and insurance premiums. However, Prue also highlighted other difficulties caused by Bill 23, Ontario's More Homes Built Faster Act.
Since September, the town has lost $800,000 in revenue because it can't charge development fees for apartment buildings now under construction.
Prue anticipates the town will lose another $3-million this year.
"We only have a $26-million tax base, and to lose these enormous amounts of money, it was quite amazing that we could come in with only a 3 per cent increase," he said.
Prue said the town also had to re-staff its building department to meet the demands of housing developers.
"Because if we do not give developers what they want within 90 days, we can't charge them development fees at all," he added.
Town councillors moved two staff members into that department.
There is no increase in the capital budget, although Prue said some high-priority road projects would go ahead. He praised the fiscal planning of the previous council, saying deliberations would have been even more difficult otherwise.
"I do have to commend the previous council. We were able to keep the reserves up, and there was enough money from last year to allow us to do what we did," he said. "Without that, there would have been a large tax increase."
The increase is another $31.20 on the average property assessed at $100,000.
During the election campaign, Prue emphasized the need for more commercial and industrial development in Amherstburg to add to the tax base, and he's optimistic.
With two-thirds of the former Allied Chemical site remediated, he's been courting some interested parties. So far, he's not prepared to name them.
He said one company makes hydrogen, while another is a possible feeder plant for the new battery plant in Windsor.
As for the final third of that land, he figures it's suitable for wind turbines or solar panels.
