On Tuesday night, Bradford West Gwillimbury Council approved a Final Tax Levy By-law, that included some good news for BWG residents.
Not only did town council hold the line on property taxes for 2021, they brought in a budget that actually resulted in a tiny tax decrease.
Director of Finance Ian Goodfellow explained.
“Our final property tax situation is going to be slightly better than what council contemplated,” said Goodfellow, noting that when council approved their budget, resulting in a 0 percent tax increase in 2021, the County of Simcoe had not yet set its tax rates.
The blended property tax includes the municipal levy, but also taxes owing for policing, the Provincial Ministry of Education, and the county.
After the town's budget was passed, Simcoe County approved rates that shifted some of the assessment burden from Residential to Commercial/Industrial properties – with the result that instead of a zero percent increase, BWG homeowners are looking at “a slight decrease, of 0.11 percent,” Goodfellow noted.
That translates into a savings of $5 for the average home.
“Not only were we able to hold the line on the budget from 2020 to 2021, but the average house will end up paying a little less than the previous year,” he said.
Deputy Mayor James Leduc called the news “fantastic,” adding, “Wish we could do that on a regular basis!”
Goodfellow advised that work has already begun on next year’s tax situation. “Staff are already looking ahead to the 2022 budget,” he said.
Part of the reason for the favourable tax outcome was the decision by MPAC, the municipal property assessment corporation, to freeze property tax assessments at the 2016 level. This year was to be a reassessment year for homes; MPAC put that on hold for both 2021 and 2022, due to the pandemic.
Coun. Peter Dykie Jr. wanted to know what will happen when the freeze is lifted, considering sky-rocketing home prices in Ontario, especially in BWG. He expressed a concern that the municipality would become “very unaffordable when it comes to taxation.”
Goodfellow noted that assessments are frozen at least until 2023. “However, when the reassessment cycle resumes, the market conditions that you spoke to, where prices have risen significantly and the price of new units is much more than it was a few years ago, that certainly could have an upward pressure on assessment values in the municipality,” he acknowledged.
He pointed out that it is still unclear when the reassessment cycle will resume – and noted that if everyone’s home value goes up proportionately, “then your piece of the taxation pie does not change.”
“Every time the assessment goes up, the tax rate goes down,” agreed Coun. Gary Lamb.
What can drive up taxes is an increase in the budget, and the need for more dollars, by the town, county, police service, and Ministry of Education to cover rising costs.
