The municipal mill rate will remain the same in the City of Portage la Prairie in 2017.

City council gave first reading to the tax levy by-law at its meeting Monday night. The by-law calls for just over $11.2-million in property taxes to meet all expenditures not recovered by other revenues as allocated in the 2017 Budget.

The city's mill rate will remain at 20.762.

“2017 is a year of planning,” says Finance, Legislative and Property committee chair Brent Budz. “I'm happy to report after we did revise and re-look at things, our mill rate is remaining the same. (There) is no increase from the city's perspective to homeowners in the City of Portage la Prairie.”

Ratepayers in Portage la Prairie will still see a slight overall increase on property tax bills due to a hike in the School Division Levy.

“The school division sets their own taxation rates and, of course, we collect them on our property tax bills,” Budz explains. “Any increases that are incurred are directly a result of that levy.”

The city's 2017 financial plan estimates ratepayers will pay $934 in municipal taxes based on a $100,000 home assessment. School taxes per $100,000 assessment increase from $595 in 2016 to $625 in 2017. The net increase from ratepayers in Portage is about $30, from $829 to $859 per $100,000 assessed taxable value, including the Resident Home Owner School Tax Rebate.

The city's 2017 tax impact calculator is available on its website.

KEEPING COMPETITIVE

In presenting the 2017 financial plan, Budz spoke to the need of the city of Portage la Prairie to remain competitive with its peers across the province when it comes to taxation.

Information presented to council displayed 2016 mill rates of other cities within Manitoba. Portage la Prairie had the highest mill rate of 20.762 compared to Dauphin (19.604), Thompson (16.369), Steinbach (13.230), and Brandon (11.673).

“It's been a consistent message from me the last number of years: when you take a look at our peers, we are high in mill rate and we have lots of dollars to spend in our community,” Budz explains. “Simply just raising taxes is not the answer. We have to look inwardly and we've done that and proven that we can.”

“...We've been enjoying a lot of success recently with some investments in our community,” continues Budz. “But we can't take our eye off the ball. We still have to look at our peers and take a look at how competitive the City of Portage and our region is in the rest of Manitoba, and the rest of western Canada.”

Budz adds, Portage la Prairie has advantages such as access to major trade routes and its ability to house water.

“But we can't overstate those advantages when we look at what it costs to set up business here,” he notes. “That's why maintaining a consistent mill rate is so important.”