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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTR-102-86 TOWN OF NEWCASTLE ffy REPORT File Res. # By-Law # MEETING: GENERAL PURPOSE AND ADMINISTRATION COMMITTEE DATE: December 15, 1986 REPORT #: TR-102-86 FILE #: SUB,JECT: WILMOT CREEK - REQUEST FOR REDUCTION IN MILL RATE RECOMMENDATIONS: It is respectfully recommended that the General Purpose and Administration Committee recommend to Council the. following: 1 . That report TR-102-86 be received; and 2. That the request by the Wilmot Creek Homeowners Association for reduction of the base mill rate levied upoon the Wilmot Creek Development be denied without prejudice; and 3. That the Wilmot Creek Homeowners' Association be advised of Council's Actions. BACKGROUND & COMMENTS: On April 14, 1986, Mr. A.E. Hart made a presentation to Council on behalf fo the Wilmot Creek Homeowners Association. The intention of the presentation was to convince Council to reduce the base mill rate for the Wilmot Creek Development because the mill rate calculation includes expenditures for roads and for Recreational Services. They maintain that all construction and any reconstruction of the roads in that Development is paid for from the maintenance fee that the Wilmot Creek residents pay. Environmental Services such as their own recreational centre, swimming pool etc. were expressed to fall into the same category. Council resolution #C-330-86 referred his written presentation to staff for review and report. Staff have reviewed the Municipal Act at length to determine applicable rulings on the issue. Section 361 of the Act specifically states that all taxes are to be levied equally upon all Assessments. The only section of the act that allows for reduction or cancellation of taxes is section 496, which limitations exclude the above situation. . . .2 G.P.A. Meeting (Page 2) Dec. 15/86 The above was confirmed verbally by the Ministry of Municipal Affairs - Field Services Branch. The Ontario Municipal Board had no ruling or direction on the issue. The Ministry's stand on the issue is that: 1) Taxes are not a fee for service (in the same way that Education taxes are not a fee for service, otherwise, only people with children would pay this type of tax) . Municipal roads are there for the use of the general public and whether or not they are used is up to the individual. 2) There is a mandatory requirement that all properties are levied upon equally (as set out by section 361 of the Act) . The Municipal roads leading into the development are maintained by the Town - as they should be, since the liability lies with the Town should an accident occur on them. The internal roads of the Development are private and are the responsibility of the owner. Just as there is no provision for relief of taxes for cottagers maintaining the private roads leading to their property, so there is no relief in the above situation. The recreation facilities that are provided within the Wilmot Creek Development are for the benefit of the residents only and do not remove the responsibility of contributing through taxes to those facilities that are for general public use. One section (sec.20) of the Assessment Act allows an exemption for absence of municipal service benefit, but it is .restricted to farmland only. The assessments already in place for the development were appealed to the Assessment Review Court in 1985, and the appeals were denied. The assessor would have taken into account the benefits described above, and the property assessed accordingly. The denial by the Assessment Review Court implies that the assessed value is appropriate. Subsequently the Assessment Review Court decision was appealed to the Ontario Municipal Board by Ridge Pine Park Ltd. The Ontario Municiapl Board on October 31, 1986 denied this appeal. It appears that there is no justification or precedent for reducing the mill rate on the Wilmot Creek Development. Respectfully submitted, Recommended for presentation to the Committee J.R. Blanchard !Chief c Kotseff Treasurer A inistrative Officer MAM/JRB/pp Az=ar z Wilmof Creek Horrewyars ' Association, .ox 012, Group 91 , a. R. 31 , NEWCASTLE, Ontario. LOA 1HO. Dear Sir: Re: Wilmot Greek - Request for ReducKan in Hill Rate Our Pla: 10.57.4 At a regular msa & Council held Monday, December 15, 1986, the following recommeNatiern was approved: "That Report Y2.102-96 be received; a& That the renum oy the Wilmot Creek _cwrors"Associatiorl for reduction of the base mill rate levied upen the Wilmot Creek Develo;NnK be denied without prajoice; and That the Uilmot Creek Homeowners ' Association be advised of Council ' s actions ,' Yours truly, Rosemary Rutledge, AKC.T. , Oeputy Clerk. RHOS. Copy to; Treasury. April 21 , 1986. Mr. A. E. Hart, Wilmot Creek Homeowners` Association, Box #42, Group #1 , R. R. #1 , NEWCASTLE, Ontario. LOA 1 H0. Dear Sir: Re: Presentation to Council Our File: 10.57.4 At a regular meeting of Council held Monday, April 14, 1986, the following resoldtion was passed: "That the delegations of Mr. A. E. Hart be acknowledged, and his written brief be received and referred to staff for review and subsequent report." Yours truly, Rosemary Rutledge, A.M.C.T. , Deputy Clerk. RR/os. WILMOT CREEK HOMEOWNERS' ASSOCIATION Box 42, Group 1 R.R. 1, Newcastle, Ontario LOA 1 HO March 18, 1986 . Ms. Rosemary Rutledge Deputy Town Clerk 11AA 40 Temperance Street Bowmanville Ontario L1C 3A6 i Dear Madam: Res Your Letter of March 14, 1986 Your File 10.57 .4. '(Jo choose to attend the Council Meeting commencing at 9:30 A. M. , monday April 14, 1986 . The speaker for our Delegation will be A .F. Hart . Based on the telephone discussion with you on March 18, 1986 we are aware that: The meeting will be held in Court Room # 2 at the building on Church Street that contains the Fire Hall and the Police Station. There will be only one speaker allowed for the delegation. The presentation shall be not more than 10 minutes duration. Due to space limitations the delegation shall not exceed a "total of 10 people. 110 N Yours truly, 01-F RI------ ............... // l"l ----q�� A.E., Hart ° - d 'D : �Jackman Vi r_6 President AEH/aeh FILE--- ` -.?_ _` --------- J WILMOT CREEK HOMEOWNERS PRESENTATION TO THE COUNCIL OF THE CORPORATION OF THE TOWN OF NEWCASTLE FOR A REVIEW OF THE BASE MILL RATE LEVIED UPON THE WILMOT CREEK DEVELOPMENT 9 :30 AM Monday April 14, 1986 . Mayor and Members of Council, Town staff members, ladies and gentlemen. I am speaking on behalf of the Wilmot Creek Homeowners Association. The aim of this presentation is to show that the budget of the Corporation of the Town of Newcastle which is used to establish the base mill rate contains significant cost items which should not be included in a base mill rate calculation which is applicable to the Wilmot Creek Development. The reason we feel that certain costs should be excluded, and that other cost items should have only a portion of the costs applied is that the Town of Newcastle has not been` required to fund any part of the Wilmot Creek Development, and will not be required to fund any part of the maintenance of services in the future. The review of the costs mentioned above was done on the following "Town" Reports: TR-11-84 (1984 Budget) and TR-22-84 (1984 Rating By-Law) Expenditure Items (TR-22 84) General Government $1, 580, 195 Protection of Persons & Property 855, 514 Transportation Services 4, 285, 475 Environmental Services 383, 972 Health Services 106, 889 Recreational & Cultural Services 1, 849, 933 Planning &Development Services 402, 734 Levies 12, 232, 604 Total $ Levies Reg nio 3, 130, 067 Elementary School 4, 371, 699 Secondary School 4, 394, 815 Separate School 336, 023 Total 1 2, 232,604 Transportation Services ( $4;285,475) is the first item for review; and it is necessary to use the more detailed report TR-11-84 to do this. Page 1-11 of the Explanito.ry Notes covers "Transportation Services"; and page 1-21 gives the itemized cost breakdown. It is our position that any item in this category that covers costs dealing with streets, and any services associated therewith are not valid items to be included in establishing a base mill rate applicable to Wilmot Creek. The reason for this is that the Wilmot Creek Development has paid for its own street construction and paving. Any street reconstruction and repaving will be paid for from the maintenance fee that the Wilmot Creek residents pay. Therefore the Town has no justifiable reason for including such charges in determining the base mill rate applicable to Wilmot Creek. These exclusions should definitely include bridge and culvert construction; and any maintenance associated therewith. The next item for review is Envronmental Services .There should not be any charges in this category against Wilmot Creek if they arise from residential areas of the Town. Our reason for this position is the same as stated previously, ie the Town has no obligations; either at present or in the future for such costs in Wilmot Creek. The next item for review is Recreational and Cultural Services. We acknowledge that these services are available to Wilmot Creels Residents to the same extent that they are available to any other resident of the Town, therefore we cannot justify excluding the costs from our mill rate determination. We ask however, that the Town recognize that we have our own recreational centre, swimming pool, tennis courts, and will have our own lawn bowling areas. Normally, the addition of 850 homes (lets say 1500 people) would add a considerable usage load to the Town' s facilities. Likely to the extent that expansion of the facilities would be required. In recognition of the fact that the Town is getting a large increase in their tax base without any appreciable increase in expenditure commitments, a reduced figure should be used for this category when calculating the base mill rate for Wilmot Creek. For the remaining budget items; which are, General Government; Protection of Persons and Property, Health Services; and Planning and Development Services, we have no comment other than to say that we agree that these should be handled in the normal manner in arriving at the Wilmot Creek base mill rate. In conclusion; we propose that a review of the Town Budget of approximately $21 .2 million, with the above considerations taken into account, should reduce the figure by approximately $4 million, and that this lower figure be used for establishing the Wilmot Creek base mill rate. This would result in a mill rate reduction of approximately 20 0. End WILMOT CREEK HOMEOWNERS' ASSOCIATION Box 42, Group 1 R.R. 1, New 1 flee, Ontario HO d :.:... March 10, 1986 MAR 19 1980' l �A 4 aff :dpi, �,r+ � d Mr. D.W. Oaks _ Town Clerk CLFR. 40 Temperance Street Newcastle, Ontario L1C 3A6 Dear Mr. Oaks: Re: Wilmot Creek Property. Your File 10.57.4. This acknowledges receipt of your letter dated March 4, 1986. We greatly appreciate the early receipt of the Site Plan Agreement between the Corporation of the Town of Newcastle and Ridge Pine Par]< Inc. In preparation for the as yet unscheduled meeting with Council we would like to utilize your detailed knowledge of Municipal Regulations by asking for the titles/numbers/sections etc. , of regulations dealing with expenditure items that are/must be included in the calculations that establish the base millrace. We ask this because on separate occasions, two members of the previous Council .referred vaguely to laws that applied to the expenditures that must be included when establishing the millrate . The inference being that there was no flexibility in the items that are to be included in arriving at a "base millrate" . To eliminate the necessity of another letter on your part, I will telephone your secretary about March 17 for the references requested above, and a suggestion as to where these would be available for review. Yours truly, A.E . Hart > Fob p C__ hackman Vine president AE H/aeh FILE---- ..._: . .:-....:....