Opposition to Flin Flon city council’s special services levy will trigger one last hearing to decide the fate of the contentious fee.
The Manitoba Municipal Board (MMB) has received dozens of objections to the levy, more than enough to warrant a public forum to give opponents and supporters their say.
Rose Gibbons, secretary of the MMB, said late last week that the board had yet to receive council’s application to extend the levy through to 2018.
But Gibbons said the MMB had received more than 40 objections, though she was unable to provide a specific number.
The Winnipeg-based MMB is obliged to hold a public hearing if it receives at least 25 objections to a proposal under review.
Gibbons could not say when the MMB will travel to Flin Flon for a hearing on the levy, but she assumes it will be sometime in May if all goes as planned.
The MMB typically reaches a decision on matters six to eight weeks after a hearing, she said, though it is not bound by any formal deadlines.
While city council is unanimous in wanting to extend the levy following its one-year trial in 2014, the MMB, a quasijudicial tribunal, has the final say.
Once a hearing date is set, Gibbons said the City of Flin Flon will be responsible for advertising the date, time and location.
Council held its own hearing on the proposed levy extension last month.
A divided crowd of 20-plus residents spoke for and against the fee, which council argues is needed to more evenly distribute Flin Flon’s property tax burden.
The levy works in two steps. First, all property tax bills are slashed by 14 per cent. Next, a uniform fee – $598.58 in 2015 if approved – is applied to all properties.
The end result: highend properties pay less and low-end properties pay more. Since tax bills are reduced before the levy is applied, the fee itself would not increase anyone’s taxes by $598.58.
According to the city, in 2014 the highest tax increase paid by a homeowner due to the levy (then set at $550) was $340. The unrelated trend of rising property values also drove up property taxes.
The city’s application to the MMB seeks permission to boost the levy as much as three per cent in each of 2016, 2017 and 2018.
Though a hearing is already planned, Gibbons said the MMB will still accept objections to the levy.
Information is available on the board’s website or by calling 204-945-2941.
