Estevan city council gave first reading to a pair of bylaws regarding the rate of taxation for this year, but tabled a third during Monday night’s meeting.
Council approved the first reading for the health levy and the library levy bylaw. But when it came time for the rate of taxation bylaw itself, council decided to table it.
The health levy will generate about $310,000. Nearly half of that money, about $150,000, will be directed to the St. Joseph’s Hospital Foundation for physician recruitment and other capital needs in the city.
The rest of the money will be directed to the city’s commitment to the new Estevan Regional Nursing Home. That commitment was in 2012. The city will supply about $1.3 million to the project, and has collected about $830,000, which is being held in a reserve account while the new nursing home committee waits for the provincial government to give the project the green light.
The library levy will generate $34.05 per capita, or $390,996 for the Southeast Regional Library, and $25,000 for the operations of the Estevan Public Library.
“The Southeast Regional Library dictates what we are to pay per capita, so that is a separate line item on your tax bill, and that’s to be transparent and clear that it will adjust based on the requirements from the southeast region,” said city manager Jeff Ward.
Second and third readings for those bylaws are scheduled to come at council’s next meeting May 27.
As for the mill rate bylaw, it was tabled to the next meeting after Councillor Greg Hoffort asked to see some additional tax tools to levy out some of those assessment increases.
“We will be looking that over in the next few weeks, and hopefully at least have some indication of whether they can be applied,” said Ward.
He noted the city is looking at what other communities are looking at using the tax tools that they’re allowed. Estevan has followed what other communities have done in the past.
Yorkton is a community that breaks property tax classifications down into additional categories.
The city will not have an increase for the municipal portion of property taxes this year for the first time since 2006.
City council said during budget deliberations this past winter that it wouldn’t increase property taxes. They were able to hold the line even though it has since announced that Souris Avenue South/Highway 47 from Fourth Street to the junction with Highway 18 will be resurfaced this year through a partnership with the provincial government’s Urban Highway Connector Program.
“To do a mill and fill up to Fourth Street was pretty small in the scope of that project,” said Ward.
That project is still in the engineering phase, and Ward said it’s something that can be completed without a tax increase.
