The Municipality of Claringon has announced savings of $186,200 as one of the highlights of the current year (2023).
The municipality said in its budget statment that it had found efficiencies to reduce the municipality’s overall utilities budget by $86,200. Another $100,000 savings was achieved through cashless initiative at town hall.
Three municipalities have so far announced their budget targets for 2024.
Clarington says its property tax increase for 2024 is 1.5 per cent, but it also mentions that “this budget proposes a net levy increase of 4.1 per cent per year from 2024 to 2027”. The 339-page document, however, does mention: “Levy growth was assumed to be 4.10 per cent, while new growth fluctuates over the period. In 2024, growth is assumed to be equal to 1.50 per cent of the 2023 levy, increasing to 1.75 per cent in 2025 and 2.00 per cent in 2026 and 2027. ”
The Town of Whitby proposes a 1.8 per cent rise in its portion of the tax bill, while the City of Oshawa is aiming at a 3.89 per cent increase.
These are, of course, the municipal portion of the overall tax bill. A portion goes to education and the region.
Strong financial position
The tax hike is despite the fact that “Clarington continues to be in a strong financial position, with more financial assets than liabilities,” according to a joint statement by Mary-Anne Dempster and Trevor Pinn, Chief Administrative Officer and Deputy CAO/Treasurer respectively.
They also said the municipality had relatively low debt servicing costs.
However, they pointed out that “as we continue to grow our reserves will be used to respond to the needs of the community and stabilize the tax levy.
“And while Clarington has relatively low debt servicing costs, we will need to take on additional debt to facilitate the critical infrastructure that we need to sustain development,” they pointed out.
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UPDATED: Clarington aims at 4.2% tax hike every year from 2024-27