Councillors Linda Cook and Mara Nagy hosted their Ward 2 Townhall the evening of Jan. 24th. It was a well-done presentation.
The councillors chose to have Property Taxes as the theme of the evening which was an excellent idea as the approximately fifty attendees found Director Finance & City Treasurer Stan Karwowski to be an engaging and informative speaker.
Karwowski turned what many anticipated would be a complex and dry explanation into an informative and enlightening exchange. He explained that for every dollar paid in property taxes, the City retains only 30.5 cents and the remainder of your tax dollars goes to Durham Region level of government (55.60 cents) and the local school boards keep 13.90 cents. An important aspect of what was discussed was how lower lower-incomers have access to property tax support from the City. He explained that City provides a property tax relief program to low-incomers seniors and persons with disabilities. The grant amount for 2022 was $525. This program is promoted on the City’s website, annual property tax brochures, and advertised in the local newspaper. However, some audience members felt this should be better publicized and promoted so more people are aware of this assistance and our Ward 2 Councillors made a public commitment to include information regarding this important program on their respective websites. He is also explained that this program is funded 100% by the City and Durham Region government does NOT provide a similar program.
Assessment was another challenging issue in Karwowski’s view. He strongly advocated that property owners should ensure that their property assessment information is accurate and correct. MPAC, the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation, is responsible for determining assessment values. The City of Pickering uses the information provided by MPAC to produce the property tax bills. Pickering’s treasurer strongly encouraged everyone to double and triple check their property assessment information records that are kept by MPAC. It is the property owner’s responsibility to ensure that MPAC’s assessment information is accurate and correct regarding their home. Incorrect assessment information may have an impact on your property tax bill.
Casino income was another hot topic of discussion as many citizens hear a $20 million dollar figure bandied about very readily. COVID has impacted the Casino revenues negatively and likely with decreased revenues. Mayor Ashe, also in attendance, clarified that Casino revenues are designated for capital assets rather than operations meaning property taxation does not benefit directly from that revenue source.
Another revenue, Elexicon has generated approximately $2 million dollars annually but in the last couple of years, the tax revenue has been shrinking. The positive note the mayor concluded was that the city owns a significant portion of Elexicon, (27.88%), and this generates notable revenues for the city.
Councillors Cook and Nagy should be quite pleased with their first town hall. Though turnout was less than hoped for, possibly because the city council meeting was held the previous night. Cook and Nagy went on to explain that questions that were not answered this evening would be followed up and published. This may be alluding to newsletters that Councillor Cook mentioned a number of times. The councillor also expressed that the promotion and publication of city news and issues had much room for improvement and her goal in the upcoming year is to see this improvement happen.
This was an excellent town hall in terms of the information presented and maybe as importantly in its atmosphere. There was no animosity, no griping and criticizing the city or of its future development plans. In fact, as Councillor Cook underlined, no one asked the question about property tax increase though, Director Finance & Treasurer Karwowski had pointed out that this is too premature of an issue due to the fact, the City’s Finance Department is still “crunching the numbers” as it relates to the 2023 budget.
The attendees likely left this town hall with good feelings about how taxation is managed in Pickering and of the department responsible for this if Karwowski is representative of the kind of staff in the department.
Bravo Councillors Cook and Nagy.
[Copy revised and updated by Stan Karwowski, Director, Dept. of Finance, City of Pickering]
