MINDEMOYA—Taxpayers in the Municipality of Central Manitoulin will again see a decrease in the millrate and taxes for 2016, with council passing its budget last week. The millrate (the cost per $1,000 of municipal assessment) has dropped by 9.3 percent this year, and a total decrease of 24.84 percent over the past two years.
“We had a committee of the whole meeting on Tuesday where we dealt with the municipal budget,” Mayor Richard Stephens noted at a regular council meeting last week. “We were so close to (a campaign commitment he had made two years ago to have a reduction of 25 percent) it hurts.”
“So, we almost attained what our Mayor had promised last year with a 25 percent decrease over two years in the millrate,” said Councillor Derek Stephens.
The decrease in millrate in 2016 is 9.53 compared to 2015 and overall for 2015-2016 budgets there has been a 24.84 percent decrease.
“My only comment on having this 25 percent decrease is that it included a lot of road maintenance being taken out of the budge, that needs to be done,” said Councillor Stephens. “We can put this off for a while but I hope it doesn’t cost us major money down the line. It’s nice to a decrease in taxes but not when we are taking away from funds going toward the maintenance side.”
As part of the budget, $500,000 was provided for the purchase of property for the new fire hall to be constructed in Mindemoya. The deed on the purchase of the property by the municipality with the property owners closed last week.
