The Town of Virden unveiled its 2018 budget last Thursday and held a public hearing Monday evening, May 14, where the budget received its third reading and was approved by council.
Only one member of the public attended the hearing. Terry Johnson came to inquire about the special levy for the waste water treatment plant, specifically when the long-promised bills for Phase I will be sent out.
Brace for Bill
At the meeting, CAO Rhonda Stewart said the bills will be going out to citizens in June.
The levy for an average home or standard business will be a one-time payment of $1,100 or annual installments added to your tax bill for 10 years.
If you choose installments, the payments stay with the house even if you sell it.
The $4 million price tag for Phase I of the project is shared equally between two levels of government, the Province and the Town of Virden.
The Town warned several years ago that residents would have to pay a special levy. At that time, some people were critical of the Town for not putting money aside years before the aging sewage plant failed.
There will likely be another levy imposed later on for Phase II of the rebuild.
Taxes up or down?
The Town proposes to spend $9.14 million this year, slightly less than the $9.18 million budgeted for last year. It calls for a balanced budget with $9.14 million in revenues anticipated.
Because property assessments increased by almost five per cent from 2017 to 2018, the Town of Virden reduced the mill rate in order to hold property tax increases to one per cent this year. But not everyone’s property tax will go up.
Mayor Jeff McConnell said property owners may see their taxes go up, down or stay the same depending on their assessment, but, “having a one per cent increase is what we felt was a reasonable rate.”
Example:
A Virden home assessed at $101,000 last year (2017) is now assessed at $106,000 (2018). That’s a five per cent increase, so that property will be taxed an extra one per cent for 2018 (the cut off is 4.6 per cent).
If the assessment had gone up less than 4.6 per cent, the taxes would have stayed the same as previous years or gone down.
2018 Projects:
Some of the noteworthy projects being budgeted for in 2018:
Waste Water Treatment Plant Phase II: $4 million
Fifth Ave. Lift Station: $1.2 million
Garbage Packer: $220,000
Generator for TOGP: $100,000
Dehumidification system for TOGP arena: $60,000
Signage – Virden Boost initiative: $50,000
Irrigation system for Victoria Park: $40,000
Shade system for pool: $12,000
Dugouts at Recreation grounds: $6,000
