Does anyone have an extra $96.47? They may need it if they live in The Nation Municipality.
According to the 2024 municipal budget, adopted by council on January 15, the municipality will collect 4.23 per cent or $765,747 more from taxpayers in 2024 than it did in 2023. This means that for a residential property valued at $300,000, the property taxes will increase by $96.47. For every $100,000 of a residential property’s assessment value, the taxes will increase by $32.16. In 2023, The Nation collected $13,705,499 in tax revenue. In 2024, it plans to collect $ 14,471,146.
The Nation’s municipal operations budget for 2024 is $14,999,860. Public Works Department operations account for the largest portion of the operations budget at 43 per cent. For every one dollar of tax revenue in the nation, 0.92 cents of it are spent on operations. According to the budget documents, there are five main reasons for increased operations costs in 2024. They are continually increasing salaries and benefits, maintenance of the municipal vehicle fleet, utility costs, the cost of subcontracted services, the cost of materials used in road maintenance have increased between 10 to 30 per cent, and insurance costs have increased more than 10 per cent during the past two years.
In 2024, the fee of $180 per residence for garbage collection will remain unchanged. The $85 per property levy for fire department services will also remain unchanged.
Rates for residential properties connected to two different water and wastewater systems in The Nation are increasing in 2024. Based on an average assessment value of $300,000, they are increasing by $110 for St-Isidore properties, and $92.16 for Limoges properties. For Limoges properties connected to only municipal water, the cost for a property valued at $300,000 will increase by $47.96 in 2024, and for Limoges properties only connected to the sanitary sewer system, the cost will increase by $47.40.
The 2024 capital budget for The Nation is $7,484,784. Reserves, reserve funds, and grants will finance 55 per cent of planned capital expenditures and just eight per cent will be financed by tax revenue. The remainder will be financed by debt. Public works projects will account for 76 per cent or $3,492,325 of the capital budget in 2024. Significant projects planned for this year include replacing the Latour Bridge and paving work on parts of nine different roads.
