North Bay City Council is confident it has what it takes to attract business and industry to the city, based on findings in a presentation by city staff on assessment analysis and tax policy review.
“During the presentation, it came out we have the lowest commercial taxes now, as of 2017 for all the big five in Northern Ontario, including Sault Ste Marie, Timmins, Thunder Bay and Sudbury,” said City Councillor Derek Shogren.
“And we have the lowest industrial taxes of the big five. You know people always complain that’s because the residential taxes are so high, but I’m happy to hear we have the second lowest residential taxes now of the big five.”
Chief Financial Officer Margaret Karpenko said 2017 was a successful year.
“We ended the year with more growth than we anticipated during the budget process which was very good news with that last supplemental run. What that translated into is an overall tax rate decrease with the tax pairs,” said Karpenko.
“Generally if your assessment didn’t change, for 2018 you’ll see a savings of about $50 a year. If your assessment went up about one percent, you’ll still see some savings in terms of about $14. Overall your general tax bill should stay generally the same unless you have a real increase in your assessment value. That’s based on a house of $215,000.”
Shogren says 85% of people will see a tax decrease this year on their tax bill.
“The ones that are increasing, it’s very, very minimal. It’s encouraging. Is there lots more work to do? Absolutely. Certainly, it was good news in terms of where we were and where we are now.”
Karpenko says North Bay has always had a solid balance sheet and solid income statement.
“Tax ratio and tax policy are really how the municipality raises its dollars to pay for all of the services it provides. So this really isn’t a process at this point of determining the financial wealth or strength of the city, but overall I have to say we do have a lot of positive signs and look forward to continuing.”
North Bay Mayor Al McDonald says that part of city council’s strategic plan is to make it attractive to bring business and industry north. Tax ratios are one element that the city can use in terms of attracting businesses and jobs to the community.
“It isn’t all about taxes. It’s about services and infrastructure as well. I think the report from our CFO showed the city is in very sound, financial shape. The fact that our taxes are one of the lowest in the north and that we continue to make record investments in infrastructure is something that I think staff and council can be proud of.”
McDonald says it is important information in moving the city forward.
“It will go to Invest North Bay to be able to use that information to build a further case on attracting business and industry here. What we do know is business and industry and people cannot afford the GTA and the bigger cities now because the cost of living is so high. So it’s one of the tools that we have to make a case for locating in North Bay.”
