City residents can expect their municipal property taxes to increase by no more than three per cent, after council on Monday drew budget deliberations to a close.
After several weeks of budget deletions and additions, the property tax increase is now hovering at a 2.89 per cent for homeowners and 3.07 per cent for businesses — a slight increase from the respective 2.78 per cent and 2.95 per cent increases originally proposed by city administration.
But some members of council are still not content with those figures.
On the final day of deliberations Monday afternoon, Coun. Roger Lemieux proposed asking administration to come up with a list of recommended budget cuts to trim the tax increase by an additional 0.75 percentage points, or about $500,000 in spending.
Lemieux argued council needs to find more savings in light of the state of the economy. The province has not recovered as anticipated from the current economic downturn, he said, and now the city is faced with a reduction in provincial grants.
Lemieux added the federal picture seems to be getting worse by the hour, and taxpayers’ dollars will likely decrease in 2010 as income drops.
“I question why do we not stay status quo with spending for 2010 as we did in 2009. St. Albert residents, like the majority of Canadians, are faced with financial burdens as we move into 2010,” said Lemieux. “We have been, and continue to be, in recessionary times. We, as a corporation, are not immune to what is happening and we need to show restraint in spending taxpayers’ dollars.”
Council voted 5-2 against the idea, with only Coun. Gareth Jones voting with Lemieux.
Coun. Lorie Garritty opposed the idea, noting for the past few weeks council has sorted through and deliberated more than 60 motions to increase or reduce spending wherever necessary.
Last summer, council directed administration to present a budget with a tax increase of no more than three per cent, he reminded. Staff followed through on that direction, Garritty added, and now it’s council’s job to own the budget.
“I don’t like the idea of now, at this point, turning it over to administration to make that decision,” said Garritty. “Council owns this budget, council has to own the process and I think we need to own it to the end.”
During last year’s budget deliberations, a similar motion was approved to lower the proposed tax increase by about one per cent.
That request was granted and city residents received a 5.09 per cent increase on their residential property taxes, and a 5.84 per cent increase for non-residential properties.
If the 2.89 per cent increase stands, the owner of an average home worth $400,000 would pay an extra $78.50 per year in municipal property taxes. The owner of an average non-residential property worth $900,000 would pay an extra $303 in taxes per year.
The budget calls for a 9.5 per cent increase to utility rates next year. For a typical home that equals an extra $8.06 per month.
The amended budget will go to council for a final vote on Dec. 14.
