The City of Thompson’s draft financial plan predicts a slightly lower budget for 2020 than 2019, but the mill rate for city property taxes will be rising about 10 per cent.
The overall draft budget is projected to be $32,224,638.11 for 2020, about $2.5 million less than the projected 2019 budget of $34,794,720.61, though the actual spending last year totalled $34,071,962.58.
City of Thompson chief financial officer Jenny Krentz said at the May 25 council meeting that the residential mill rate for calculating city property taxes is going up 10 per cent from 22.679 to 24.954 if the draft financial plan is approved. This is the result of the tax assessment for Thompson as a whole going down from $477,358,360 to $443,291,170 in the 2020 reassessment and the city’s property tax revenue requirement rising by $225,772 from the 2019 level –a n increase of about 2.2 per cent.
A public presentation of the draft financial plan will be held at 7 p.m. June 4. Residents will have the chance to make presentations, ask questions or register objections to the proposed budget. Anyone who wants to attend the hearing should call 204-677-7938 to register. Should the number of attendees be too great for the meeting to be held in council chambers while practising physical distancing, an alternate location may be considered.
Six council members present at the May 25 meeting – Mayor Colleen Smook, deputy mayor Les Ellsworth, and councillors Andre Proulx, Jeff Fountain, Brian Lundmark and Kathy Valentino – voted in favour of the tax levy bylaw seeking the increased residential mill rate, while Coun. Duncan Wong, who requested a recorded vote, was opposed.
