By Mike Renzella
The Haldimand Press
HALDIMAND—Haldimand County Council got a look at the final results of property assessment values for 2023, used to determine tax rates amongst the various classes of properties within Haldimand.
Overall, the County’s tax levy grew 1.65% in 2022, to a total of $124.62 million. The residential tax class is set to absorb the lion’s share of that growth, with their rates growing by 2.66%, while the commercial tax class will grow by 1.82%. In contrast, the industrial, farm, and mult-residential tax classes all saw a minor rate reduction toward the overall levy.
Manager of Financial and Data Services Mark Merritt said that nearly 80% of the County’s tax levy is recovered from the residential class: “We’re heavily reliant on that class to recover our levy annually.”
He gave a breakdown of the factors behind the annual assessment and how it impacts tax rates.
“There are four things that impact the tax levy during the year. The first is the education rate. The Province sets this rate annually through legislation. The increase or decrease can impact the overall taxes, particularly for residential taxpayers.”
He continued, “The second is the assessment roll. When the assessment roll gets returned there are both growth impacts and changes to the roll. Typically, we would have reassessment impacts, although we don’t have that right now. That can impact the overall levy burden on the taxpayer, plus shift who pays the burden.”
“The third one is the establishment of annual levy requirements. In March, when you see the Tax Supported Operating budget, you’ll see what that levy impact is. That will be added on to the impacts for the year,” he said. “The final thing is the Tax Policy report, which comes in June. If we change any of our tax policies, that will again impact the overall levy.”
He said those factors combined are used to calculate the total impact year-over-year on taxes.
Merritt called county growth “critically important” for shifting the burden of taxes off of residents and back on the County.
“The growth we achieve limits the amount of the levy impacts that residents would see. The higher the growth, the more it offsets the levy impact,” he explained, noting they are projecting about 2.08% assessment growth. “That’s slightly higher than average. We’ve been running at about 2% the last four years or so, so it’s about our average, but it is a pretty significant growth for the public.”
In comparison, prior to 2016, the County typically saw less than 1% growth annually. Merritt added, “We are seeing a large growth and that is offsetting some of the levy impacts, not to say that there may or may not be additional cost impacts coming forward in the budget as well. We’ll review those when we look at the budget in early March.”
Merritt said another factor that can have an impact on tax rates is the provincially mandated assessment values. While those assessments are due for re-evaluation on a four-year basis, Haldimand’s have sat at the same level since 2016, owing to the pandemic.
“The Province hasn’t indicated when they are going to re-assess that valuation date. Anytime we have a re-assessment in the Province of Ontario, it shifts the burden of who pays,” explained Merritt. “It can shift between classes and can shift within the same class. For example, if your residential assessment goes up more than the average, you’ll see more of a portioned increase on your taxes. It’s important for the Province to indicate when that is going to happen so we can start preparing both Council and the public for what the impacts are.”
Stay tuned to The Press for coverage of the County’s Tax Supported Operating budget this March.
