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.
City council has the go-ahead to proceed with a controversial service fee that will shift more of the tax burden onto Flin Flon's least valuable homes. But the Manitoba Municipal Board's approval of the plan is only good for one year, 2014, meaning council would have to reapply in order to continue the fee long term. 'The Board accepts the City's rationale for the proposed (fee) and is of the view that the proposed (fee) should be approved,' board chair William Barlow wrote in an eight-page decision. Barlow said the board 'carefully considered' all input from the city and the public, with the fee's one-year time frame 'in the forefront' of their analysis. Mayor George Fontaine said he was 'obviously pleased' with the ruling. 'We put forth our case and they considered all yay and naysayers and looked at it, and I'm pleased that they went with it,' he said. The ruling means that in 2014, hundreds of low-end homeowners will pay up to $340 more in property taxes _ and that's assuming council maintains a level mill rate. The hardest hit will be homes assessed in the $40,000 range. See 'Tax' on pg. Continued from pg. Homes worth $35,000 will pay about $247 more in 2014. Those assessed at $60,000 will pay an extra $145, and homes worth $80,000 will be charged another $12. Some of the tax increases on low-end homes will be covered by the Manitoba government through its property tax rebate. Once homes surpass a market value of roughly $100,000, tax savings begin to kick in. Homes worth $150,000 will save $360 a year, while those valued at $200,000 will save $650. Again this does not factor in any changes to the mill rate. As city council's lone voice of opposition to the fee, Coun. Skip Martin was disappointed by the board's decision. 'I think this new proposal is going to be hard on people on fixed incomes,' he said. 'Transferring some of the tax burden from the more well off to the less well off I think is just wrong, and under this system the more expensive your home is, the bigger your (tax) break will be.' Mayor Fontaine said he does not share the concern that lower-income residents will suffer under the plan. 'But I guess we'll see once we try it out and people have had a chance to see how the whole system works,' he said. 'Obviously if you're the one paying more, you don't like it _ÊI mean, nobody likes it _ but we're asking for a lot of people to pay more in a lot of ways. And so we're trying to level the (taxation) field so that we can keep things going the way they are and maybe improve.' Mayor Fontaine said tax increases on low-end homes will be high in percentage terms, but in dollar terms are modest compared to the hikes many owners of high-end homes have faced over the years. 'And nobody blinks when that happens, but when it's on the lower end, of course because of the percentage (increase), it looks like a lot more money than it really is,' he said. Supporters of the fee have argued that the value of someone's home does not necessarily represent their financial status _ the wealthy can live in low-end homes, too. Coun. Martin said it's possible some owners of low-end homes could easily afford higher taxes, but there's no way of separating those with the means from those without. 'To me it's not fair just to tax people that can't afford it just so that you can include some people that can,' he said. Implementation of the fee involves charging all Flin Flon properties a uniform amount for police and fire protection. Why police and fire protection? Because provincial legislation grants the city the right to isolate those costs for taxation purposes. In order to do this, however, municipalities require the approval of the Municipal Board, a quasi-judicial tribunal. Impact Coun. Martin is grateful that council's plan was approved for just one year, meaning the fee 'won't be as theoretical' once homeowners see the financial impact. With 2014 being an election year, residents 'will have more direct input' on the fee, Coun. Martin added. While satisfied with the board's decision, Mayor Fontaine wishes they had also approved a request to exempt vacant lots from the new fee. The board's refusal means that even owners of empty lots will pay more _Êunless they go through the process of having their properties amalgamated, as Mayor Fontaine now recommends. The board's ruling, announced last week, followed an August public hearing that gave Mayor Fontaine and a divided public the chance to address the fairness and feasibility of the fee. During impassioned testimony at the hearing, Mayor Fontaine said council must lessen the 'huge discrepancy' between taxes for low-end and high-end properties. Armed with a document headlined 'Not So Fun Facts,' Mayor Fontaine said just 27 per cent of Flin Flon taxpayers shoulder 50 per cent of the tax burden. Flin Flon can no longer afford to hike taxes on high-end homes, the mayor said, because in time there won't be any high-end homeowners left. But Coun. Martin wasn't the only one not swayed. Dennis Hydamaka, a Lord's Bounty Food Bank volunteer, worried the plan, along with pending hikes to city utility bills, will have many clients 'severely' dipping into their food budgets. Most food bank clients are renters, and Hydamaka wondered whether their landlords will willingly absorb the added cost of the fee rather than passing it on to tenants.
