GUELPH/ERAMOSA – The Township of Guelph/Eramosa is projecting a higher tax increase than was previously anticipated due to less provincial funding, labour challenges and ongoing inflationary impacts.
A budget report going forward at a public meeting on Wednesday is projecting a tax increase of 4.85 per cent for 2023.
This is a little more than a percentage point higher than the 3.76 per cent anticipated tax increase reported at a meeting earlier in December.
Mayor Chris White said over the phone this would roughly work out to an average of $60 to $70 more on property tax bills than in 2022 on $500,000 of assessed value.
White noted there were multiple reasons for this slight shift with inflation as a major contributing factor.
The township is not quite meeting the inflation rate of seven per cent when it came to consumer price index (CPI) raises this year but White said the township needed to be competitive while there is a labour shortage which required an adjustment from earlier to five per cent.
“We had a clerk position where typically we get 200 applications, we got like 12,” White said.
“We’re in a very competitive labour market, so one of the things you want to make sure of is that your CPI is respectful to the fact that the labour market is tight.”
White stressed he’s aware a lot of people aren’t getting raises and that’s why they’re trying to balance being reasonable with a CPI raise while keeping the rate below inflation.
The township is also facing about a $150,000 reduction in provincial funding, the mayor said.
“The provincial funding that we typically get for roads and bridges has been reduced and that’s almost one per cent and we didn’t know that when we were doing our initial budget,” White said.
With inflation in the construction industry reaching nearly 15 per cent, White said there were a lot of further impacts that needed to be considered in the budget which necessitated this further increase.
“It’s a combination of funding cuts and it looks like inflation is going to be here for a while, so we just want to try to balance that out,” White said.
The Township of Guelph/Eramosa is having a public meeting with a budget presentation on Jan. 4 at 1 p.m.
The meeting can be attended virtually or in person at the township office in Brucedale.
