Harrington Council voted unanimously on Monday, October 19, to maintain the municipality’s existing fire protection taxation method, rejecting a proposed change following public feedback from residents.
The decision came after public information sessions on the proposal, which would have replaced the current property-value-based tax for residential properties with a fixed fee.
Mayor Gabrielle Parr said council welcomed the public’s participation in the discussion.
“We were pleased to receive all the comments from citizens who participated this past Saturday. Council also received and read all the correspondence from residents to complete our deliberation on the topic,” Parr said.
The decision was met with loud applause from the 14 in attendance at the council meeting.
Under the proposed change, owners of primary and seasonal residences would have paid a fixed fee toward the municipality’s fire protection service, regardless of their property’s assessed value. The existing method calculated the tax based on a rate applied to the property’s assessment.
Vacant land would have remained subject to the existing assessment-based taxation method under the proposal.
According to the municipality’s explanatory document on its website, the fixed fee would have been calculated using the fire protection service budget after deducting revenue generated by taxing vacant land. Based on the 2026 budget, the fee would have been $89 per residential building, although the amount for 2027 would have depended on the service’s budget and other factors.
Based on the 2026 assessments, owners of homes valued below $344,800 would have paid more toward fire protection under the fixed-fee model, while those with homes assessed above that threshold would have paid less.
Council’s decision means the municipality will retain its current method of calculating the fire protection service tax rather than proceed with the proposed change.
