2017 – District initiates a property tax surcharge

Council approves the implementation of an annual property tax levy that is to be used to fund the replacement of assets in the future. According to District documentation, the funds collected will be ‘set aside each year’, supposedly sitting in a reserves fund. Quietly, year after year, the revenue generated from the levy has been building to an astonishing amount. As of the 2023 fiscal year end, the amount that has been collected on the backs of the taxpayers sits at almost $30M.

Based on the estimated cost of the new municipal hall planned by Council and the total levy accumulation to date, the taxpayers will, in effect, be paying cash for a very large portion of the new facility. This approach to managing community assets is neither fair nor prudent. To use so much cash for an asset that will have a lifespan of 50 years or more is an alarmingly poor way of managing community cash flow. Standard practice for major investments is to take out loans on that asset and then pay off the debt over a duration that matches, as best possible, the life of the asset.

Looking at it from a different perspective, by paying cash today for an asset with a long life, current taxpayers will be ‘gifting’ the property tax levy that they were burdened with to future residents of the District. A more fair and standard practice of is for taxpayers to build and maintain assets on a ‘pay as you go’ basis.