2015 Recommended Budget Frequently Asked Questions (based on approved budget as of February 26, 2015) •

What is Whitby’s 2015 budget increase in percentage terms?

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What is the average increase for Whitby taxes in 2015?

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Why does Whitby need a tax increase?

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How much of my property tax payments go towards the Town of Whitby?

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What is the difference between the Town of Whitby and the Region of Durham?

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How does the Town spend its portion of the property taxes?

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What is the Town’s rate of inflation and why is it different from the CPI?

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What is the Town doing to control costs and reduce cost pressures?

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Will next year's tax increase be zero?

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How does the Town support the Whitby Public Library?

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With all the growth in Whitby, why do we need a tax increase?

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Don't development charges pay for the capital cost for new development?

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How is the Town addressing the capital program?

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What capital projects are scheduled for 2015?

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What capital projects are financed by Federal Gas Tax in 2015?

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How does Whitby’s tax increase compare to other municipalities?

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How do Whitby’s total property taxes compare within GTA municipalities?

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How does Whitby’s portion of property taxes compare within Durham Region?

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How much support does the Town of Whitby receive from other levels of government?

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How am I affected by property tax reassessment?

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What is the Town doing to assist low income seniors?

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What is the Town doing to assist low income disabled homeowners?

What is Whitby’s 2015 budget increase in percentage terms? The Town tax increase is 2.94%, however when combined with all three levels of government (Town, Region of Durham, and Provincial School Boards), the overall tax increase in the residential tax bill is estimated at 1.46%. (Back to list of FAQ’s)

What is the average increase for Whitby taxes in 2015? The Town’s 2.94% tax increase translates into an average increase of $42 per household based on an average house assessed at $339,900. (Back to list of FAQ’s)

Why does Whitby need a tax increase? The $42 increase addresses the inflationary pressures of maintaining existing services and infrastructure, the annualized impact of previous Council decisions, providing for the cost of growth, as well as addressing provincially mandated requirements such as accessibility. (Back to list of FAQ’s)

How much of my property tax payments go towards the Town of Whitby? Municipal taxes make up approximately 9% of the total taxes paid by an average household. The Town of Whitby is responsible for billing and collecting municipal property taxes for all properties located within the municipality. Taxes are levied and collected on behalf of the Town of Whitby, Region of Durham and for school boards The Town and Region set tax rates for their purposes and the Province is responsible for setting the education rates. In 2015, the taxes to be levied on a property with an average assessment of $339,900 are approximately $4,573. The Town of Whitby will receive 32% of this amount while the Region of Durham will receive 53% and the remaining 15% will go towards education. Government Tax Dollars spent by an average household Source: AMO, 2013

Ontario, 44%

Municipal Property Taxes, 9% Federal, 47%

(Back to list of FAQ’s)

2015 Town of Whitby Taxes

$4,573 on a Property Assessed at $339,900

Region of Durham, $2,420, 5% (53% of $4,573) School Boards, $690, 1% (15% of $4,573) Town of Whitby, $1,463, 3% (32% of $4,573)

What is the difference between the Town of Whitby and the Region of Durham? The Town of Whitby is a two-tiered municipality. The Town provides local services and the Region provides broader-based services to several Municipalities. This chart provides a high-level overview of the services each level provides. Town of Whitby Fire Services Waste and Green Bin organics collection Local subdivision and minor aterial roadway maintenance (i.e. Garden, Dryden, Columbus), repair, snow clearing Recreation programs, facilities and parks

Region of Durham Police Services Blue Box recycling collection Major arterial roadway maintenance, repair, snow clearing (i.e Taunton, Manning, Thickson, Lakeridge) Health and Social Services (housing assistance, public health, long-term care, family and children services) Transit (DRT, Pulse bus rapid transit) Emergency Medical Services

Trails, multi-use pathways, on-road cycling Library and Art Gallery Bylaw compliance and licensing Builiding inspections and permits (Back to list of FAQ’s)

How does the Town spend its portion of the property taxes? The chart below shows how the Town utilizes the $1,463 portion of the property taxes based on a house assessed at $339,900. Station Gallery: $9 $8 $1

The capital budget allocated to various services fluctuates year-toyear based on current year capital program requirements (e.g. life of equipment, age of fleet, building maintenance schedule, etc.)

Special Events and Grants : $10 $10 Sustainability, Heritage, Downtowns and Community $20 $5 Development and Economic Development: $25 Building, Planning & Development Services: $29 $24 $5 By-Law and Animal Services: $30

$28 $2

Winter Control: $56

$56

Community Programs : $70

$57

$13

Waste Management: $72

$54

$18

Corporate Governance and Administration: $80

Operating

$16

$64

Public Library Services: $105

$14

$91

Facilities, Parks and Trails: $194

Capital

$42

$152

Fire and Emergency Services: $358

$19

$339

Roads, Bridges, Sidewalks: $425

$227 $-

$50

$198

$100 $150 $200 $250 $300 $350 $400 $450

(Back to list of FAQ’s)

What is the Town’s rate of inflation and why is it different from the CPI? Inflation on Operating Budget: The Town's internal operating rate of inflation (commonly referred to as the Town’s Municipal Price Index or MPI) for 2015 is 2.1%. The Town’s MPI is based on the goods and services the Town must purchase to provide community services (i.e. labour, utilities, asphalt, salt, fuel, insurance, etc.) as opposed to the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which is a measure of inflation on goods and services a typical household would purchase (i.e., food, clothing, etc.). It should be noted that the Town's cost of inflation typically runs at a higher level than that of the published Consumer Price Index due to the relatively heavy weighting of labour and utilities compared to households. CPI is forecasted for 2015 to be at 2.0%.

2015 Actual Town Inflation Percentage increase

Inflation impact $1,707

5.0%

4.4%

3.8%

4.0% 3.0% 2.0%

2.5%

1.9%

0.0%

0.8%

0.6%

1.0% Salaries, Wages & Benefits $1076K

2.1% 2.0%

Utilities & Fuel, Parts & Other Building Repairs Costs $16K $259K

Inflation on expense groupings

Purchased Administrative Grants Services & Costs $127K Operating $172K Supplies $57K 2015 CPI Forecast 2015 Town Inflation

Note: forecasted inflation was estimated at 2.4%

Inflation on Capital Budget: The inflation on capital projects is also different from CPI. For 2015 an overall inflationary rate of 2.87% was applied to the Capital Maintenance Funding Envelope. This is a result of the Town adjusting each asset’s envelope by its associated inflation index, (for instance Statistics Canada price index for Machinery and Equipment and Non-Residential Construction Price Index). (Back to list of FAQ’s)

What is the Town doing to control costs and reduce cost pressures? In order to minimize the impact of these pressures, Mayor, Council and staff are continually looking for ways to maintain or improve both the levels and efficiency of the services the Town provides. Types of measures include: Strategic Spending on Assets;

Planned Capital Maintenance Funding; Grant Application Submissions; Partnership and Sponsorship Options; Community Involvement through Committees & Volunteer Opportunities; Technology & Customer Services Initiatives; and Long Term Planning. The Town also reviews revenues and user fees to help offset the inflationary pressures, however, not all revenues are subject to inflationary increases or are automatically increased by municipal inflation due to a number of reasons including affordability, and competitive position. In 2015 Council directed that a Service Delivery Review be completed to ensure that tax dollars are being spent on appropriate services and in an efficient manner. (Back to list of FAQ’s)

Will next year's tax increase be zero? There are many pressures which will affect the Town of Whitby in future years, including growth, maintaining our existing assets and inflationary components. Inflationary costs for labour, insurance, utilities and fuel affect the Town significantly and place additional pressure on the budget. Every time we add a new park, new road or facility, it has an impact on the Operating budget. Other items identified as having potential future impacts on the budget include: Accessibility, Corporate Asset Management Plan, Integrated Community Sustainability Plan, Waterfront Master Plans, Brooklin Secondary Plan and Transportation Master Plan, timing of growth due to ROPA 128 and the Emerald Ash Borer epidemic. While tax increases are expected for the future, the Mayor and Council of the Town of Whitby are committed to keeping tax rates at a reasonable level while maintaining the balance between current budget demands, growth and addressing the future capital issues. (Back to list of FAQ’s)

How does the Town support the Whitby Public Library? This year the Town will provide an operating grant of $4,694,379 and $744,780 in capital funding to the Whitby Public Library. The operating grant funds an increase of 2.40% over 2014 expenses made up of inflation and external pressures. The capital funding will be used primarily to replace Library collection materials at the end of their useful life. (Back to list of FAQ’s)

With all the growth in Whitby, why do we need a tax increase? Although new growth does bring in additional assessment, it requires additional resources to be provided by the Town of Whitby for such items as garbage pickup, snow plowing and maintenance of additional roads, community services for new residents and the payment of capital infrastructure for new development. (Back to list of FAQ’s)

Don't development charges pay for the capital cost for new development? Capital costs are eligible for development charges if they are needed to service new growth within the Town. However, changes to the Development Charges legislation in 1997 introduced a number of new limitations, restrictions, and exemptions that as a result do not permit growth related capital costs to be paid 100% by development charges. As a result there is always some portion of growth that is payable by the existing taxpayers. Based on the Town’s 2012 Development Charge Study, it is estimated that 36% of the capital costs related to growth must be paid by the taxpayer. In 2012, as part of the Town’s update of its Development Charges By-law, Mayor and Council passed a resolution requesting that the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing amend the Development Charges legislation to allow municipalities to offset the full cost of growth through development charges. (Back to list of FAQ’s)

How is the Town addressing the capital program? Council has adopted a strategy of focussing the capital budget program on: • •

taking care of the existing $2 billion dollars’ worth of assets (estimated replacement cost value), and addressing the capital requirements of growth

In order to take care of the existing infrastructure, Council has committed $17.9 million in 2015, for the timely maintenance and replacement of the Town’s roads, facilities, machinery and equipment and other capital in order to optimize capital funding and avoid service interruptions and incur additional operating costs. In order to address the tax based capital costs of growth, in 2015 Council is contributing $2.9M to the Growth Reserve Fund. This reserve is used to fund the Town’s portion of the growth related capital costs over a 10 year period identified in the 2012 Development Charge study. (Back to list of FAQ’s)

What capital projects are scheduled for 2015? The budget supports numerous projects, studies and master plans to address Council’s priorities. Significant projects in the 2015 capital program include: • • • • • •

Phase one of the multi-year LED streetlight conversion project Emerald Ash Borer Action Plan Year 2 funding of the of the 4 year Economic Development Strategy Ongoing funding to preserve and promote our Downtowns and continue to build on initial steps to address the legislative requirements regarding Accessibility Continued focus on infrastructure improvements including a variety of road, sidewalk, cycling/multi-use pathways, storm water management facilities, and signalization Ongoing lifecycle capital maintenance of Town facilities and parks including redevelopment of Kelloryn Park (2015)

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Ongoing replacement of vehicle fleet and equipment. Including in 2015 replacement a sewer cleaner and two street sweepers (Back to list of FAQ’s)

What capital projects are financed from Federal Gas Tax in 2015? The 2015 Capital budget includes approximately $3.5 million of projects that will be financed from Federal Gas Tax including: Urban Road Resurfacing: • • • • • • •

Melissa - Glen Hill to Glen Hill Frost - Holliday to Holliday Glen Hill - Crawforth to Melissa Palmerston - Walton Blvd to Brock St N Guthrie Crescent Wellington - Dundas to end Hemingford Pl - Bassett to end

Rural Road Resurfacing: • • •

Dalton - Elizabeth to Thickson St Thomas St - Anderson to end Pine Hills - Elizabeth to Thickson Rd

Minor Road Reconstruction: • Clear Spring - Brock to End • Queen - George to Baldwin (Back to list of FAQ’s)

How does Whitby’s tax increase compare to other municipalities? While it is not easy to compare one municipality to another due to such factors as the level of service and the sources of revenue are not always the same, Whitby is competitive compared to the other Durham lakeshore and other GTA municipalities. Municipality Brampton Oshawa Oakville Ajax Whitby Clarington Markham Milton Burlington Pickering Mississauga

2015 Lower Tier Tax Increase N/A 1.82% 2.32%* 2.75% 2.94% 2.95%* 2.98%* 3.12% 3.55%* 3.79%* 4.00%

* Please note some of lower tier numbers are the most recent published numbers and may not be final. It is always difficult to balance reasonable tax increases against the services requested by the community. Council always considers the budget with the idea to balance the competing pressures as best as possible. The 2015 budget increase allows Council to maintain the base of services provided to the taxpayers in Whitby. (Back to list of FAQ’s)

How does Whitby’s portion of property taxes compare within GTA municipalities? When you compare the property taxes of a similar property to those of other municipalities Whitby is in the mid-range, not the lowest but not the highest either. An independent consultant compared total taxes on similar residential properties across municipalities within the GTA. Whitby’s residential taxes are in the Mid-High range. Low Toronto East

Low-Mid Clarington East Gwillimbury Halton Hills Milton

Mid Brampton

Mid-High Aurora

High Ajax

Caledon

Brock

Oakville

Georgina

Burlington King Markham Mississauga

Oshawa Pickering Toronto (North) Toronto (South) WhitchurchStouffville

Newmarket Richmond Hill Scugog Toronto (West) Vaughan Whitby Source: 2014 BMA Municipal Study Edited for GTA Municipalities (Back to list of FAQ’s)

How do Whitby’s portion of total property taxes compare within Durham Region? Based on comparisons to each of the five lakeshore municipalities in Durham Region, the Town of Whitby’s taxes are in the mid-range and are competitive with other area municipalities in Durham. The chart below compares the total property taxes on a home assessed at $339,900 for the five lakeshore municipalities in 2014.

2014 Comparison of Durham Lower Tier Taxes on a Property Assessed at $339,900 $2,500 $2,000

$1,337

$1,367

$1,421

Pickering

Ajax

Whitby

$2,321

$1,536

Oshawa

Clarington

$1,500 $1,000 $500 $0

Taxes

$62 for waste collection

Note: In the above chart, household waste and green bin collection services are provided at the lower tier (local) level for Whitby and Oshawa and at the Region level for the other three Durham lakeshore municipalities. In the case of Whitby, the 2014 cost for this service, for the average household, is $62 which was added to the other three municipalities for comparison purposes. (Back to list of FAQ’s)

How much support does the Town of Whitby receive from other levels of government? In the operating budget the Town of Whitby anticipates receiving $104,800 in Provincial operating grants and $32,766 in Federal Grants. The majority of these grants are received as part of annual applications for summer student employment programs. The Provincial funding includes a $46,000 grant for Afterschool Programming which has had its temporary funding extended for one more year. With regards to the capital program the Town of Whitby expects to receive approximately $3.5 million in Federal Gas Tax Funding for roads, bridges and active transportation infrastructure projects. (Back to list of FAQ’s)

How am I affected by property tax reassessment? Refer to Taxes and Property Assessment at following link: Link to the Town of Whitby's Property Tax Assessment Information webpage (Back to list of FAQ’s)

What is the Town doing to assist low income seniors? The 2015 budget allows for a $300 rebate for low income senior homeowners. Refer to Taxes and Property Assessment at following link for further details: Link to the Town of Whitby's Low Income Seniors webpage (Back to list of FAQ’s)

What is the Town doing to assist low income disabled homeowners? The 2015 budget allows for a $300 rebate for low Income disabled homeowners. Refer to Taxes and Property Assessment at following link for further details: Link to the Town of Whitby's Low Income Disabled Homeowners webpage (Back to list of FAQ’s)