It will be a 5.17 per cent tax hike for residential ratepayers in Fort Frances.
Town council spent much of Thursday going over the 2023 budget numbers.
Treasurer Dawn Galusha outlines the impact on your tax bill.
“Three thousand and eighty properties are increasing. One thousand, one hundred and sixty-eight are increasing between 0 and $100, an average change of $70,” says Galusha.
The budget does not include the levy the town will pay to the Rainy River District Social Services Administration Board.
The DSSAB is still working on its budget.
Galusha says an estimate, using last year’s numbers, was incorporated.
Mayor Andrew Hallikas spoke with other mayors while at the Rural Ontario Municipal Association conference to get a sense of their budgets.
“The majority of the municipalities whose mayors I spoke to we’re coming in between 5% and 7 %. We’re not out of line. In fact, we are at the little low end of that range. It’s still a significant increase, but that’s the trend right now,” says Hallikas.
The increase takes into account a 1.4 per cent hike toward the town’s asset management strategy.
More than $16 million is earmarked on the capital side of the budget.
Galusha says more than half relates to projects never started or completed in 2022.
“The flood last year, that is our biggest reason for all of this carryover. Things just either didn’t get started. Some things also were approved mid-year. As well, we’re waiting on a lot of vehicles that have been on order for even up to 2 years,” says Galusha.
Operation and Facilities Manager Travis Rob says it was something they were cognisant of when they crafted the budget.
“We focused on critical needs things. Things that had been committed by council previously or through the year last year and anything that we absolutely had to do. No more, no less,” says Rob.
Road work this year will include the completion of Mowat Avenue, reconstruction of Sinclair Street between Victoria and Armit Avenues and Third Street West, between Central and York, which will be dependent upon government funding.
