Cumberland ratepayers can expect a 5-6 per cent hike in their taxes for the coming year.
At a village meeting Monday, chief financial officer Michelle Mason provided an overview of local government’s five-year financial plan.
The CFO also said they have to be able to respond to challenges presented by the impact of COVID-19 and the recovery.
“We’ve developed a budget that is flexible,” Mason said.
The main focus of the discussions was on the expected hikes to property taxes, utility rates and other charges for the coming year.
The average increase should work out to about 5.39 per cent, which will provide roughly $184,000 in additional revenue for 2022. Mason provided details on residential as well as Class 6 commercial property.
For a single-family home, the tax hike should be five per cent, though with utilities and other taxes like the frontage tax and parcel charge tax, the figure works out to six per cent. In dollar terms, this should be about $218 more.
On a strata property such as a condominium, the percentage increases would be the same, translating into a dollar amount of $177 more.
On a Class 6 commercial property, the amount would be about five per cent, or $373 more.
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Mason explained that with many different types of commercial properties, the amount cited represents a median amount rather than an average. In other words, about half of commercial properties are expected to pay more than this amount and half would pay less.
At the same time, the numbers at present are preliminary, as the village is waiting to find out amounts to be raised for other jurisdictions such as the school district and the regional district.
“Once we receive these rates, the numbers will change,” she said.
The village also does not yet know the property values for the coming year, as these are released in early January.
“We do not have the 2022 assessed values yet,” Mason said.
She explained the role of the assessments in calculating taxes. The most important number is the actual requisition the village needs — in this case, the requisition value of $184,520. This is then spread among local property owners, with the assessment values used to determine the relative amounts people pay through actual rates.
The financial plan still has to go before council to pass as a bylaw.
mike.chouinard@comoxvalleyrecord.com
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