The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
As a pensioner, John Zoretich has to watch every penny. So when he learned that his property taxes would soar 35 per cent this year, the 86-year-old was flabbergasted. "I'm a bit shocked because (of) the amount it went up," said Zoretich, a Willowvale area resident. He's not alone. The City of Flin Flon's recent property tax notices informed many residents that they would have to pay hundreds of dollars Ð in some cases over $1,000 Ð more this year compared to last. The Reminder contacted 20 citizens about their tax bills. Most reported hikes of at least 20 per cent, with one homeowner's tab nearly doubling. On Prince Charles Place, a homeowner who had been paying about $3,200 a year will now pay roughly $4,700, a $1,500 spike, though the house did undergo major upgrades. That equates to about a 47 per cent increase. A Centre Street resident who paid $431 last year will be charged $811 this year Ð a rise of $380, or 88 per cent. On Waldron Avenue, a homeowner paid $495 in 2008 and a similar amount in 2009. This year their bill comes in at $852, an increase of $357, or over 70 per cent. A Bracken Street homeowner's taxes ascended approximately $600, from just under $1,000 to about $1,600, a 60 per cent hike. Another homeowner in the Birchview area reported a 29 per cent jump, with taxes rising $332 to $1,481. On Queen Street, one bill went up $411 to $2,301, a 22 per cent boost. Increases The increases come despite city council's unanimous decision to lower by 12 per cent the municipal taxation rate, known as the mill rate, in its 2010 budget. Even with the mill rate diminished, many homeowners will have to dig deeper into their wallets because the provincially assessed value of their properties surged. Some homeowners with whom The Reminder spoke felt that the city should have slashed the mill rate further to better compensate for snowballing property values, or worked to phase in the increases over time. "It's getting really unaffordable for the lower- and middle-class people in this town," said a Willowvale area resident, who asked that his name not be published. Mayor Tom Therien said further reductions to the mill rate would have necessitated cuts in services. "Where would you like us to cut?" he asked rhetorically. "We hear all the complaints as it is regarding our roads, etcetera. Where would we have cut?" Mayor Therien said he and council oppose the present system in which mill rates must be applied to provincially assessed property values, and have informed the NDP government of its displeasure. If residents have a beef with the system, he said, they need to take it up with their MLA, not city council. "It's not fair to us. We didn't do (the assessments). It's totally out of our control," he said. Mayor Therien added that while some residents are upset with their latest tax bills, others are pleased because their assessments dropped along with their taxes. Faced with a yearly tax bill up $263 to $1,024, Zoretich, for one, does not take out his frustration on City Hall. "I can see the city council has no power except to lower the mill rate," he said, adding that the money to fix roads and operate the municipality has to come from somewhere. But like city council, Zoretich has a problem with the assessment system, wondering how the province decided his home is now worth $18,000 more than it was just last year. "The province itself is not helping us out at all," he said. "This is not Winnipeg, and the real estate is not going up." See 'Still' on pg. Continued from pg. A different reaction came from Tony Spooner, a Princess Boulevard resident who saw his tax bill jump by about $300. "It still looks pretty reasonable to me," he said. Brent Lethbridge concurred. "This city's in trouble with the tax base," said Lethbridge, who will pay about $300 more on his Phelan Avenue home. "You have a declining population, you want to have some services, right? And I don't know, do we want less services? There's only two ways to go about this: you can increase taxes or you cut services. And it's not like we're serviced to death here." Having served on the Flin Flon School Board for a dozen years, three as Finance Committee chair, Lethbridge said he appreciates the challenges facing council. "What are our city councillors supposed to do when you're facing so many people moving out to the lake areas (and) a decreasing population, yet the demand on our services remains the same?" he asked rhetorically. "What choice does City Hall have?" 'Good chunk' Lethbridge added that "a good chunk" of the taxes the city collects goes not into municipal coffers, but to the school division. Like city council, the school board lowered its taxation rate this year. Unlike council, the board set its mill rate so that it would accrue the same amount of actual dollars from local homeowners as last year. However, the board benefitted from a generous provincial grant made available to school divisions Ð and not municipalities Ð that chose to hold the line on taxes. Municipal Administrator Mark Kolt said the city does not know how many property assessments went down versus up, but noted that those that diminished in value tended to be in older neighbourhoods. Overall, the actual dollars homeowners will pay to the city rose 5.73 per cent, which covers the projected cost increase of $565,000 contained in this year's budget. In unveiling its budget earlier this year, city council, fully aware of the rising property values, braced citizens for higher taxes. Coun. Dave Kennedy, chair of the Finance Committee, acknowledged at the time that there would be "a huge disparity" among tax rates. "This just puts people's tax bills all over the place," he said, addressing a public meeting. At that same meeting, Kolt said the new assessment is based on market values seen in the spring of 2008, just months before the economic downturn hit. He said there is an expectation that the values will be lower come the next assessment in two years. But the cost uncertainty has Zoretich wondering whether he will stay in Flin Flon if the time comes to sell his house. "What is it to stay here? I don't know what's going to (happen) next year for taxes," he said. "I'm a pensioner and my pension isn't going up."
