The final vote of adoption for the City of Prince Rupert's 12.5% property tax increase comes with tonight's Council session, the vote likely to take the same amount of time as the first three readings provided for it on Thursday.
The Background documentation to the Tax Bylaw provided to Council at their Special Session of Thursday and is included in the Agenda for the Regular Council session tonight..
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With the vote, the process of preparation of your Property Tax Bill due in July will get underway and as the Finance staffers get to work on that, they will be sending tidings of a tax call that is the highest in the region.
Around the Northwest, city and town Councils have wrestled with their own financial challenges and community issues and as they have, they have outlined what they are seeking from their residents this year.
Just down the road in Port Edward, the District council has approved a tax increase that will see homeowners paying approximately 3% more in taxes than one year ago.
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For the remainder of the Northwest, the tax call for 2023 looks as follows:
Terrace residents will see a 10.33 percent tax increase for the year ahead.
Kitimat Council has moved forward with plans to see a 4 percent tax increase from what was paid by residents in 2022.
Smithers officials have settled on a final tax call of 5.2 percent for their municipal requirements.
Houston's Council needed some additional time to make a decision, that after the Council members split on the prospect of a 4% tax increase in April, finally moving the increase forward last week.
Burns Lake residents are looking at a 6.73% increase for the year ahead.
Prince Rupert's tax annual tax call was split into two segments years ago.
Making for a double tap for residents, that by way of the Utilities tax bill of January and the Property Tax Bill with payment required in July.
More notes on Municipal Taxation can be reviewed here.
The remainder of tonight's Council session program can be explored here.
Quick bit of math suggests if the port paid its fair share, the PR tax increase would be the lowest of this bunch! (4-5% from PILT, 10% from tax cap)
ReplyDeleteIf CityWest was called on to make regular payments on it's loan from the city the tax burden would be reduced significantly.
DeleteWhy am I as a taxpayer subsidizing a provincial wide phone company.
You aren’t subsidizing Citywest as a local taxpayer, their expansion is funded by the Province. You are however directly subsidizing the property taxes of the 4 capped port terminals in Prince Rupert.
DeleteAlso, 4AM screeds against public ownership of utilities really helps to narrow down who you are!