SD&G – The final values have been calculated and the United Counties of SD&G ended 2017 with a nearly $1.3 million surplus.
The county collected around $41.2 million in taxes last year to cover its operations, which cost $52.1 million.
In a report to county councillors Monday, CFO Vanessa Metcalfe reports the United Counties ended 2017 in a “very strong financial position” with a surplus of $1,299,000.
The money will be put into a tax rate stabilization reserve fund to offset changes in taxation.
The county has approximately $16.8 million in various reserve accounts to offset unexpected expenses and overruns.
The biggest reserve funds are: $2.1 for bridge capital, $2 million for road capital, $1.7 million for tax rate stabilization and $1.6 million for road resurfacing cost stabilization.
Other Tax Changes
- The county is continuing to phase out tax capping for commercial, industrial and multi-residential properties, which started in 2017. Only one property in North Stormont will be affected this year, which is receiving a property tax cap of $386. The credit cost is shared between the county and the township.
- A multi-residential tax ratio for properties established before 2017 is being eliminated. Multi-residential taxpayers were paying nearly 1.8 times the taxes of regular homes. The province changed the rules in 2017 and made a new multi-residential class with the same tax ratio as residential (1.0). County council has passed that new rate on to properties established prior to April 2017. The change will result in a loss of $183,000 in taxes, which will be picked up by other ratepayers – mostly residential.
- County council finalized the tax rates in order to collect $46.4 million in taxes this year. It will mean a 1.7 per cent increase or an extra $21 this year on a home assessed at $212,000. That doesn’t include any taxes to be paid to the lower-tier municipality.
- Establishing a special tax ratio for small-scale commercial and industrial operations on farms in SD&G won’t happen this year. The province does not have the legislation ready for the county to put it in place. The idea will be looked at again in 2019.