Zero per cent tax increase for Hawkesbury residents in 2010

The town has kept its promise and won't be raising taxes this year, after council voted in favour of adopting the 2010 budget at a council meeting held Monday, March 8.

Mayor Jeanne Charlebois promised that, if she is re-elected, she will make sure budget documents are made available to members of the media and the public from now on.

"I know it's important and if I am still here, it will happen," she commented.

During an interview at his office February, chief administrative officer (CAO) Normand Beaulieu told The Review that this year's budget is a "status quo" budget.

"It's a zero base budget," he explained. "That means there won't be any tax increase for residents in 2010, which we hope will make people quite happy. A status quo budget means we're not cutting any services and we're not adding anything new. Basically, we'll have the same level of service this year that we had last year. You can look at last year's budget and essentially, the numbers are pretty much the same."

He said the town will have to wait until the United Counties of Prescott-Russell and the school boards set their tax rates before it can officially pass the budget.

Beaulieu noted the town will be collecting just over $17 million from taxpayers in 2010, which is on par with the $18 million it collected last year.

The tax rate currently sits at .00129, without the counties and school board rates. That equates to approximately $1,129 for the average residential property assessed at $100,000. That number is down a few dollars from $1,132 in 2009.

"We have to remember though, that number is going to go up once we get the counties and school board rates," Beaulieu stated.

Last year, with the town, counties and school board tax rates, taxpayers paid $1,911.58 for the average residential property assessed at $100,000.

In 2010, the municipality will collect around $7 million from taxation.

When asked if there were any big challenges during this year's budget process, Beaulieu pointed out that the town will be paying $500,000 more for the OPP contract this year. In 2009, the town paid $3.3 million for policing. This year, Beaulieu said, it is estimated the town will pay around $3.6 million for policing,

"That's a pretty big hike ($500,000), but what can you do?" the CAO said.

He said the town has a done a "relatively" good job boosting its reserve funds, which currently sit at about $6 million. Reserve funds are set aside to help municipalities pay for capital projects. Without reserves, municipalities would have to levy those funds from taxpayers.