Town of St. Paul residents will see a slight increase in taxes this year, despite council holding the line on its municipal mill rate. Council passed the 2013 budget on May 13.
At the town’s regular meeting last week, a recap of the budget was delivered by Town of St. Paul CAO Ron Boisvert. The recap outlined changes to mill rates and taxes, and explained a number of unforeseen increases in rates.
This year, the municipal mill rate has remained the same as last year. Total operating revenue, without taxes, is just under $5.9 million, and the total operating expenses come to just under $10.1 million. Once tax revenues are taken into account at $4.3 million for residential and $3.1 million for commercial, the town budgets a $592,500 surplus.
The school tax mill rate and the M.D. Foundation mill rate have both increased, and are the two main reasons why taxes will increase for residents. School requisition for the Town of St. Paul has gone up this year, by 15.48 per cent. This increase is passed onto residential and commercial taxpayers but is controlled by the province.
“The town acts as a collector on behalf of the province,” explains Boisvert.
The town’s cost share of operating losses with the M.D. foundation was 3.98 per cent. Those costs are shared with the County of St. Paul, and the Town of Elk Point.
In addition, property taxes increase with the value of the property, despite municipal mill rates staying the same, explains Boisvert.
The town did an assessment of nine random residential properties within the town. Increases in property value were found, and ranged from 3.15 to 5.26 per cent. The average increase among the sampled properties was 3.77 per cent.
“The assessment value went up on eight out of nine houses,” says Boisvert. An overall trend of increasing value was found, assessing property in the town. The average increase in taxes for homeowners will be between $30 and $90 for 2013, depending on the assessed value of a person’s property.
In the case of commercial property, an assessment was done on 12 randomly selected commercial properties. Increases in property value ranged between 4.56 to 7.69 per cent, with an average of 5.79 percent. Assessment values went up on all 12 properties.
Along with an explanation of the taxes expected this year, Boisvert’s report included a list of purchases, and capital projects for the year. The purchases and projects on the list are strictly the most important things to each department with which they’re associated, and it does not include all expenses.
“We review the purchases and renovations, we go back and fine tune it several times,” explains Mayor Glenn Andersen to the Journal. “We’ve trimmed it down to the necessities this year, to fix the things that need fixed the most. For example, a lot of money is going toward the sewage treatment plant, no questions asked. We’ve done a lot of planning in regards to that, and it has to get done.”
Also on the list of projects are recreational facilities.
“They’re sandblasting the old paint at the arena, replacing some of the old rock parts of it that are falling off, modernizing it,” Andersen says, regarding the expenses associated with the Clancy Arena.
The Wellness Centre expenses included in the budget, Andersen explains, are part of the original budget for the facility, which is not yet 100 per cent complete.
