The School District of Mystery Lake has approved its 2010-2011 budget, which was originally proposed in a public budget presentation on Feb. 23, at a school board meeting on March 9. The budget means an increase of 2.61 per cent.
Although the school board tells the City of Thompson how much it needs to raise for the municipal share of its budget, the city sets the actual mill rate determining how the money will be raised. Under the board's 2010 property assessment, residential properties increased from 66.3 per cent of total assessment in 2009, at $214,343,100 to 71.6 per cent in 2010, at $334,319,310 - an increase of $120,048,210. This means that residential property owners will now pay a larger portion of the municipal and education taxes.
"The biggest factor [in this budget[ was the revised assessment and the effect it had onmunicipal and educational taxes," says Arnold Assoignon, secretary-treasurer for the School District of Mystery Lake. "Residential properties now constitute a bigger portion of the taxation - therefore without even an increase in taxes they will be paying a large portion of the education and municipal tax." Despite this, some residential property taxpayers - although only a few - will see a decrease in the school board portion of their tax bill.
The school board's budget for this year is $37.537 million, compared to $36.539 last year. About $7.291 million will likely come from municipal ratepayers in the form of a special levy, while the vast majority of the school board budget funding comes directly from the province. By comparison, the City of Thompson had a budget of around $25.497 million last year, and the Burntwood Regional Health Authority has a budget of almost three times that of the school district.
The provincial government is providing $29,368,511 for the 2010/2011 budget, while the federal government is providing $44,159. The municipal government, through property taxes and other means, is providing $5,855,967. Expenses in the budget have been increased by $940,815 - an increase of 2.61 per cent, which the board says will allow an increase in the maintenance budget to offset the "anticipated cost of water meters."
