Growth in Waterloo leads to smaller tax rate increase

A surge in new buildings and businesses means Waterloo residents will be paying a bit less than expected in property taxes in 2018.

Monday night, the City of Waterloo approved a 2.1 per cent property tax increase, down from the initial 2.4 per cent set in the city's three-year budgeting cycle. That means a $27 tax bill increase for the average household.

Over the past year, the city saw 3.4 per cent growth and $1.8 million inadditional tax revenue to its coffers which is whatled to property taxes dropping slightly.

Councillor Jeff Henry, chair of the Finance and Strategic Planning Committee, said the city had approveda three-year budget but re-opened the budget to look at what could be done withthe extra revenue.

Part of that revenue went toward reducing the yearly tax rate, said Henry, the rest allowed the city to approve a new library and deal with the extra cost of the provincial governments changes to minimum wage.

"In 2018 when minimum-wage goes to $14 an hour ... that cost will be about $440,000 to the City of Waterloo," said Henry. "There will be more costs in 2019 if the minimum wage climbs to $15 as proposed."

The 2018 budget includes:

• $230,000 in operating funding in 2018 toward the future East Side Library.
• Funds to cover the anticipated increase in the provincial minimum wage.
• Dedicated funds to cover labour and contractual obligations.
• Funds to cover ongoing and new park and horticultural obligations.
• Money to addressa funding gap in a Waterloo Wellington Local Health Integration Network (WWLHIN) program.