HomeMy WebLinkAboutTR-101-86 TOWN OF NEWCASTLE
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NESTING: GENERAL PURPOSE AND ADMINISTRATION COMMITTEE
DATE: December 15, 1986
REPORT #: TR-101-86 FILE
SUB,JECT: TAX BILLING PROCEDURE
RECOMMENDATIONS:
It is respectfully recommended that the General Purpose and
.Administration Committee recommend to Council the following:
1 . That report TR-101-86 be received; and
2. That Council adopt the recommendation in this report
to redesign and color code a new tax bill in lieu of
changing the present tax procedure system.
BACKGROUND & COMMENTS:
At the General Purpose and Administration Committee meeting in
June, Resolution #GPA-634-86 was approved. This resolution
directed staff to review the current tax billing procedure,
with a view of sending out separate tax notices for the Town,
Region and School Board Levies.
In reviewing this matter, staff contacted other municipalities
within the Region and were advised that only the Town of
Whitby, in the past, has sent out separate notices. This
practice was only in force for one year, after which it was
discontinued for the following reasons:
1) sufficient funds were not available to pay the
quarterly levies to the Region and School Boards as
required by law. This occurred because the second
instalment was strictly education, and being the
larger portion of tax collection, it left the first
part of the taxation year deficient in funds in
comparison to the regular billing cycle.
. . .2
G.P.A. Meeting (Page 2) Dec. 15/86
2) from an economic standpoint it was not considered
a viable option since:
a. to produce more than one set of tax bills was
proven too costly
b. opportunity cost (interest earned) on investments
lost was high, due to ratepayers witholding Region
and/or School Board Payments.
3) the confusion created by changing the procedure of a
virtually static system would cause a significant
increase in staff workload in the form of answering
complaints and questions. The only positive comment
received was that the ratepayers became acutely more
aware of the education related portion of the tax
levy. It is felt that highlighting the education/
Region and Town portion of the levy would accomplish
a similar awareness.
Considering the above comments, staff recommend that the tax billing
procedure not be changed, but rather the tax notice per se be
redesigned and colour coded. Staff are of the opinion that this
approach, being the most cost efficient, would convey to the property
owners exactly where the responsibility lies for the taxes being
levied.
The acquisition of an in house computer system has necessitated the
need to create and or design certain forms to accomodate the various
applications not previously available to the Town. Staff have
reviewed the tax notice format used by two other municipalities
within the Region and are of the opinion that the City of Oshawa tax
notice is most effective in conveying the various areas of
responsibility.
With this in mind, staff requested that the tax notice be redesigned
in a similar manner. The template is available for committee members
to view and provide comments, along with the tax notice used by the
City of Oshawa.
Quotations have been solicited from three firms to provide a color
coded tax notice with only two responding. The quotes are as
follows:
Town of Newcastle Moore Business Forms Hard Copy Data
Tax Notices - colours)
50,000 $39.88/M $30.31/M
1001000 $29.88/M $22.63/M
G.P.A. Meeting (Page 3) Dec. 15/86
On reviewing the costs for the Town's present tax bills, it is
interesting to note, that Real Time use a standard form, not colour
coded, and charge $39.77/M (1985) .
Staff recommend that the Town's tax notice be redesigned and color
coded in lieu of changing the tax procedure system.
Respectfully submitted, Recommended for presentation
to the Committee
.R. Blanchard awrence ctseff
Treasurer Chief A i trative Officer
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