At a special meeting of city council on May 12, Thompson's city council passed two important bylaws in light of the budget released days before - one being a levy bylaw and the other being a bylaw to limit the amount of increase or decrease in property taxes for 2010 by establishing a tax phase-in program.
The levy bylaw states that the City of Thompson has made estimates of all sums required by the corporation for 2010 as part of the financial plan. The bylaw levies the rate or rates of "so much on the dollar upon the assessed value of all rateable property". The assessed value of the whole rateable property within the City of Thompson, according to the revised assessment rolls, are $342.7 million. The bylaw also states that the assessed value of the rateable business properties within the City of Thompson, according to the revised business assessment roll, is $8.728 million. The bylaw was read and passed unanimously.
The second bylaw, being a bylaw to limit the amount of increase or decrease in property taxes in 2010 via a tax phase-in program, was also passed unanimously. The bylaw states that in 2010, all increases in residential property taxes in excess of 10 per cent will be phased in at 50 per cent, not including new construction or vacant lots purchased for new construction or parking. Also, all decreases this year in commercial property tax will be phased in at a rate of 41 per cent to offset the residential.
All in all, this means that the average residential taxpayer will be seeing a 4.32 per cent tax increase this year, along with the special levies. The overall budget has increased by $9.75 million to $35.248 million as opposed to last year's budget of $25.497 million.
A home assessed at $200,000, for example, would face a $178.74 total tax increase this year based on the 4.32 per cent increase. There's also an increase this year of $37.89, or 1.97 per cent, for the School District of Mystery Lake levy. The City of Thompson's levy, meanwhile, has gone up 6.35 per cent, which means an increase of $140.85 for the $200,000 property.
Deputy Mayor Harold Smith says there are a number of changes this year in the financial plan that will affect the taxes that people pay. The first one is the reassessment of properties in Thompson.
"The total assessment of the city increased significantly in the last reassessment. The province, which does the reassessment, was on a schedule where they were reassessing every four years. The last time they had done it was four years ago, so property values have really increased," he explains. "But most significant in that ist he fact that residential properties increased far more than commercial properties did - and that's not something that we control; its just something that is the basis on which we can apply property taxes."
Smith also say that the significant cost increases in the budget meant council had to make some big cuts, particularly cutting funding to Prairie Bylaw Enforcement by $150,000.
"We've tried to minimize the impact on operating, and most of our capital work we're doing we're offsetting the cost with debentures or government grants or through the use of revenues," he explains.
If it wasn't a reassessment year, Smith says, the percentage that taxes are going up by wouldn't be the same.
"In most cases its residences that are going to pay more because they're seeing an increase in their assessment. Other properties' assessment went up, but not by as much."
Most of the budget increase seen in this year's financial plan is due to covering capital costs for work on the Thompson Regional Community Centre, which, according to Mayor Tim Johnston, may or may not be deferred during the year ahead.
