Staff now proposing 5.99 per cent tax hike, Councillors hope for less
By Bill Rea

King Township staffers are now looking at a tax increase on the order of 5.99 per cent this year, but several councillors hope the final figure will be lower.

Councillors had their second working session on the budget Monday, at which the proposed capital budget was the main item on the agenda.

The previous session, held two weeks ago, contained some hard pills, including word that the concurrent road reconstruction for the the installation of sewers in King City and Nobleton would cost around $3.3 million, and the Township could debenture the expenditure and pay for it over several years, or get the taxpayers to accept an increase of about 31 per cent this year.

Township CAO Scott Somerville observed Monday that there was consensus from council that the debenture route was the way to go, which enabled staff to put forth recommendations that, if accepted by council, would increase taxes by a little less than six per cent.

That will just account for the Township's share of the property tax bill. King collects the taxes for itself, as well as York Region and the two local school boards. Township Treasurer Don Young had previously reported that last year King only kept 30.24 per cent of the taxes it collected. Of the rest, 42.16 per cent went to the Region and the remaining 27.6 per cent went to education. Regional council received its first presentation on its budget late last month. At that point, they were looking at a 5.3 per cent increase

Somerville stressed the proposals are still "subject to political input," meaning input from council.

There were hopes expressed from councillors that the tax hike won't be that great.

"We might be able to shave a little bit of that," Mayor Margaret Black remarked.

She did express a desire during the meeting that the road debentures should be taken for 20 years. Director of Operations Jody La Plante reported this work on the roads should last between 20 and 25 years, and Black thought aiming a debenture term along those lines would be good policy.

Other councillors were hoping for a lower increase too.

"I'd like to see it reduced a little bit further, but I don't see how it's going to be done," Councillor Jane Underhill remarked.

"My personal thought is 5.99 is a little bit high," commented Councillor Jeff Laidlaw, although he added he still hasn't seen all the details.

Councillor Linda Pabst agreed more information is needed, although she seemed pleased with what was presented Monday. "It's getting closer to where it should be," she said.

"It still seems like a lot," remarked Councillor Cleve Mortelliti.

Somerville had said the road debenture costs would not come on this year's tax bill, but starting in 2008, and each $100,000 in spending amounts to approximately one per cent of taxes. Mortelliti said that will mean three or four per cent per annually for the next several years, added to whatever other tax increases go through. With almost six per cent being discussed now, he wondered if King taxpayers could be looking at nine per cent increases in a couple of years.

"I think when we go lineby line, we're going to achieve something closer to the rate of inflation," commented Councillor Bill Cober, "and that's what our target should be; cost of living."

"I, as a taxpayer, only brought home about three per cent more last year," he added. "That's fairly common across the private sector."

"And there will be things that we have to say 'no' to," Cober observed, adding that will be a tough message to deliver to constituents and Township staff. "We can't afford it all."

The capital proposals call for $20.955 million in spending, but Somerville said the good news is a little more than $990,000 of that is to be funded by taxes. The other roughly $18.8 million would come from such sources as reserves, grants, debentures, etc.

In his covering report to council, somerville said there were no specific recommendations regarding storm sewers or repairing ditches in King City. He said that will require political discussions and decisions. Black said they need more information of the costs and engineering issues.