At last week’s Council meeting, Fort Erie Town Council approved the 2016 tax levy bylaw. The bylaw allows staff to bill the 2016 property taxes on behalf of the Town, Region and Province.

The Town’s tax rates were approved in February. On April 21, the Province announced the education tax rate would be decreasing from 0.195 per cent in 2015 to 0.188 per cent in 2016. Therefore, the revised overall tax levy results in a 1.65 per cent increase from 2015, not a 2.13 per cent increase as originally anticipated.

“When we presented the 2016 total tax rate increase in February, we calculated the information using the 2015 education tax rate,” said Karlee Griffin, deputy treasurer. “The recent revision in the education tax rate translates to a 0.48 per cent reduction of the median total tax bill. In other words, residential property owners with an assessed value of $179,715 in 2015 will save approximately $13 from what we originally presented in February due to this year’s education tax rate decrease,” said Griffin.

This year’s tax levy will support a number of Town initiatives, including:

• $800K contribution towards capital reserve funds to meet the Town’s commitment to address the infrastructure deficit;
• $403K dedicated to expand roadway refurbishing program for 2016;
• $200K to accelerate the Emerald Ash Borer tree removal and replanting program;
• $100K contribution towards the Niagara Blvd. cycle route expansion being spearheaded by the Niagara Parks Commission; and
• $88K to increase service levels in areas such as winter maintenance and roads management.

For further details on the 2016 General Levy, please visit the Town of Fort Erie website at forterie.ca.