Ratepayers may pay more taxes for 2019 in Brownsburg-Chatham, but the residential mill rate is going down, according to the municipality’s 2019 budget. The rate for agricultural land will increase to 64 cents in 2019, up from 57 cents in 2019.
The average property value in the municipality was $190,724 in 2018. For 2019, it is $191,316. When property values go up, the amount of taxes a municipality collects on them increases, even if the mill (tax) rate stays the same.
The residential mill rate was 71 cents per every $100 of a property’s value in 2018. In 2019, it is decreasing by 1.7 per cent to 70 cents.
The average tax bill on a single-family home in 2019 will be $2,075. In 2018, it was $2,015.
The commercial rate has been frozen at $1.79 per $100 of the property value.
Other rates have been introduced or adjusted to increase revenue and encourage growth.
A new tax rate has been created for vacant land that is not connected to municipal services like water mains or sewers. It is 98 cents per $100 of the property value.
The tax rate on vacant land with services has decreased by three cents per $100 of value for 2019 to $1.40.
Owners of apartment properties of six or more dwellings will pay one cent more per $100 of the property value in 2019, bringing the amount to 81 cents.
The tax rate increases on industrial and agricultural properties are the most significant in the budget.
The industrial rate is increasing to $2.40 per $100 of value from $2.37 per $100. The agricultural rate is now 64 cents per $100 of the property value. In 2018, it was 57 cents.
The 2019 budget is balanced, but there is no projection of a surplus. Revenues and expenses are both projected at $12,148,990.
For every dollar of revenue the town receives, 79 cents of it will come from taxes. The second-biggest sources of revenue are the municipal campground and marina, which accounts for nine cents of every dollar. Government grants are the third-largest at four cents per dollar of revenue.
On the expenses side, the largest amount of spending in 2019 (per dollar) is road maintenance at 26 cents. Financing fees cost 15 cents per dollar, and administration costs 11 cents per dollar.
More than $5.1 million in capital projects are planned for 2019 in Brownsburg-Chatham. Those include a $2.1 million reconstruction project for a section of rue Principale, $1 million in expansion and improvements to the municipal marina, and a $600,000 paving project on Montée Robert.
Mayor Catherine Trickey is pleased with the results of the budget process, especially about the reduction in the residential rate. She said the increase in the agricultural rate was due to a significant increase in the assessment value of those properties.
