By Cheryl Jahn

Finance and Audit recommends 6.78 percent for residential tax hike

Mar 4, 2024 | 3:33 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – The Finance and Audit Committee has one of its more important meetings for the Finance and Audit Committee, determining the break down of who will pay what in terms of property taxes.

“In our budget meetings in January, we determine how much money to collect from the city to run all of the services now that we have that number,” explains Kris Dalio, Finance Director. “There’s still one more step to it, and that’s determining how much of that 138 million we’re going to collect from residential, how much we’re going to collect from business, and how much we’re going to collect from things like light and heavy industry. So council has the ability to to change tax rates in order to collect that money from who they from which sector that they want.”

The three options available were laid out like this:

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Option #1: Set the estimated Representative Home tax increase to 6.78% and obtain the remaining tax revenue required by equally increasing the Business, Major Industrial, Light Industrial and Farm tax rates,

Options #2: Set Business Tax Rate Multiple to 2.5:1; and obtain the remaining tax revenue from the Major Industrial, Light Industrial and Farm tax rates,

Options #3: set Business multiple to 2.5:1; Light Industrial multiple to 4:1; and obtain the remaining tax revenue from the Major Industrial and Farm rates.

There are multiple classifications for taxes: from Major Industry to business to residential to farm. There was a suggestion that perhaps residential property owners bear a bit more of the load to give light industry a break.

“We felt that a more balanced approach would be more appropriate,” says Cori Ramsay, Chair of he Finance and Audit Committee. “So the option that we were looking at really all options have the tax levy set at 6.78 percent for the residential tax class, with us collecting the remainder of the taxes from other classes and how we distribute the weight of that is really we’re taking a balanced approach.

In years past, the onus was more heavily weighted to a different classification.

“A number of years ago, the sustainable finance policy was changed and there is a bit of an emphasis put on maintaining a business tax rate multiple of no greater than two and a half to one. So the what, what council’s trying to do there is make sure that our business rate is competitive throughout the province, that we’re able to attract business and retain business here in the community.”

But what Council looked at doing and the Finance and Audit Committee concluded, the budget process for the City far from over.

“So there are two bylaws that the community needs to have approved by Council before May 15th. One is the Financial Planning bylaw. So that will be a rolled up bylaw that represents all of the discussion that happened for budget in January,” says Dalio. “And then there’s the tax rates bylaw, which will represent what was discussed at the Finance and Audit Committee. Those two bylaws will come to council in late April.”

The 2024 completed tax roll is just over 138 million dollars.