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.
Jonathon Naylor Editor Some $200,000 a year in new provincial cash will flow into municipal coffers under Flin Flon City Council's plan to more evenly distribute the property tax burden. That was the word from Mayor George Fontaine as he confirmed council will indeed move to a residential fee, rather than a tax, to fund police and fire protection. 'There will be increased funding from the province by us doing that,' he said as guest speaker at last week's Flin Flon and District Chamber of Commerce meeting. In its upcoming budget, council plans to remove the $1.6 million annual cost of the Flin Flon RCMP and the Flin Flon Fire Dept. from property taxes. It will then divide that cost among all taxpaying properties across Flin Flon _ homes and businesses included _ through a new fee, which could be set at $567 a year. The goal is to glean more tax revenue from owners of low-end homes, many of whom do not receive the full $750 annual homeowners' grant offered by the Manitoba government. When charged more under council's plan, those homeowners will be able to claim a greater share of the provincial grant. The end result is that while a lot of low-end homeowners will dig deeper into their wallets under council's plan, a sizable portion of the increase will be covered by the grant. Addressing the chamber, Mayor Fontaine said the city's bookkeepers estimate the change will bring in an extra $200,000 a year from the province, though he admitted that is 'a ballpark figure.' See 'Tax...' on pg. 7 Continued from pg. 1 The mayor did not downplay the fact that even when the homeowners' grant is factored in, low-end homeowners stand to see their overall tax burden rise. City figures based on the 2012 tax rate indicate residents with the lowest-valued homes would pay as much as $338 extra under council's plan. Even a home valued at $60,000 _ not necessarily 'low end' by Flin Flon standards _ would be charged another $228. 'The effect will be different on every home and on every business,' Mayor Fontaine said, adding that residents will be able to ask and find out how the plan will impact their taxes. But the mayor said 'something has to be looked at' as residents with high-end homes see their tax bills skyrocket as their property values climb. He gave one example of a homeowner whose taxes rose $1,400 in a single year as a result of reassessment. 'Nobody at the lower end blinked at that because they said, 'Well, those people, they can afford that,'' said Mayor Fontaine. 'No they can't. They're just regular people like everyone else. They happen to have invested more in their property or bought a newer place or whatever. But in a lot of cases these people have no more ability to pay (higher taxes) than the others.' As high-end home values, and thus taxes, rise, the mayor said, there has been 'no climb' for low-end homes. 'Somewhat' levels Mayor Fontaine described council's plan as an attempt 'to level the playing field' among taxpayers, but he admitted it only 'somewhat' meets that goal. If council just implemented the fee and kept the tax rate the same, low-end homeowners would pay more and high-end homeowners would save, some of them in the several hundreds of dollars. However, Mayor Fontaine said council is also planning to boost the tax rate this year, with the goal of having high-end homes pay roughly the same amount as last year when savings from the police and fire fee are factored in.
