City Of Hamilton Announces Tax Increase
The City of Hamilton has announced a tax increase and restructure of residential tax, effective January 1, 2016, with the City noting this is the first increase in five years.
Mayor Charles Gosling said this resolution was “necessary as part of the City’s strategy to increase overall revenue, which has plummeted in the past decade” with wharfage income alone being “reduced by more than 40% in the last 10 years.”
The City said the five main changes announced are:
- 1. Tax increase – approximately 2%
- 2. Residential Tax – restructured to a tiered system in a similar format to land tax structure
- 3. All property owners are now responsible for full municipal rates and are authorized to collect the tenant’s portion from the tenant. Where the property is not tenanted, commercial owners may apply for a refund. This change is in effect because property owners often do not update the City on tenant changes and this will reduce City of Hamilton administration time and costs.
- 4. Rental rates on City of Hamilton venues such as Pier 6, Earl Cameron Theatre, Parks and Streets rentals increases by 5%. Full rates and rental terms can be found online at www.CityOfHamilton.bm under the City Services tab.
- 5. Parking: Residential parking permits will now incur a $25/year administrative charge and Handicapped parking will switch to the full rate, however handicapped spaces will be converted to two-hour parking. The administrative charge for a handicapped parking permit remains the same.
“Other changes affecting specific tax-payer groups such as sewage connection fees and concession stands will be communicated directly to them.,” the City said. “More information will be made available online at CityofHamilton.bm under the menu tab ‘For Rate Payers’.”
Let me guess – the total anticipated increase in revenue for the Corporation from these tax increases happens to equal $18,769,606 i.e. the $18 million judgment, together with accrued judgment interest net of receivership revenues and expenses, which stands at $769,606 for a total obligation of $18,769,606!!
we screwed up (former mayor and current secretary) but you need to pay for it. got it?
Well let us see…. according to the financial statements the revenue from Taxes was a bit over $8.5M so 2% would be $170K so looks like small adjustments.
I agree they are probably in the $19M range to pay back I see the Corporation is taking out a loan that would mean they don’t need to raise $18M in one go but rather find a way to pay down the loan. Depending on interest rate and term could be anywhere from $2 – 3M per year ( no one would do this for less than 10 years) given they still need to operate and provide the services.
Someone stole 18 million and everybody have to pay for it..stuck against the system
This is why you need an outside Governor to step in and appoint an independent investigation into the whereabouts of the funds, legality of the contracts and conduct of parties and ensuring funds are traced and frozen. But it may already be too late for that.
All this politicking is a red herring.
To fail to do so will have us held up to be another banana republic.
Seems like an underhand land transfer deal.
Someone gets $18 m. And someone else gets an extra $18m in land (and at fire sale price so…..). Effectively we will have had $36million plus costs and interest misappropriated.
Please appoint an independent, competent advisor to trace and pursue
More fallout from the way to many years the incompetent plp were allowed to continue their terror!!!! The plp experiment is one that sadly in our lifetimes will never be totally corrected!!!
This has nothing in the world to do with the PLP.
This occured during the administration of your beloved OBA and all blame should be directed to Faye and Dunkley.
They both claimed to have all the t’s crossed and i’s dotted but some of you truly are in denial and want to place blame where it doesn’t belong.
OBA claim your fault and face ownership on this.
How so?
You obviously live on that other planet called ” planet delusional” if you are that blinded by your love of the plp, it is a total waste of my time explaining to you, how silly your comment really is???
The oba tables, and passes a motion, and it’s content is the plp’s fault..
Funny how the PLP/UBP didn’t oppose it now Rhonda did they?! Thought so…
Yes, they oppose, Burt questioned the strength of the legislation… Uncle told the people don’t listen he don’t know what he is talking about…. Where is Uncle Bob now… He is so silence…
“burt questioned the strength of the legidlation”…
Do you even believe this sheet you write? Do you just make it up out of thin air?
Concerning Par La Ville?
You spun yourself silly
I don’t think that’s right – the guarantee was done under the former CoH administration – but certainly during a time when the OBA was in power – but quite how this mess is Dunkley’s/Fahy’s fault I don’t understand – the fault it seems lies purely with the former administration of the CoH
Tell that to Kangoocar
@LOL, obviously reading comprehension is not one of your strong suits is it????
http://bernews.com/2013/11/govt-tables-motion-on-par-la-ville-hotel-project/
The ex-Mayor and Secretary need to explain to City businesses (and residents) if they knew what they were doing when they signed off on the $18 million guarantee.
Hamilton tax payers now have many years to pay for their hubris and flawed egos
Let’s see the legal advice they received.
Legal advice is just advice. The mayor and deputy mayor were being PAID to make the decisions.
Where are Donal and Graeme these days?
Increases are obvious in the wake of the former administration who bankrupted the City’s coffers !
On another note, how about getting serious and ‘putting some teeth’ into handicapped parking fines – by increasing the fines for parking in handicapped areas to ‘up to $ 5000.00′ as they do in Mississauga, Ontario and other Canadian & US cities. It is disgraceful how able-bodied drivers take advantage! Shame on them !
Red herring. Follow the money.
To the man who wears his glasses on his forehead. Please come forward and speak up. Where is the monies?
He does not have a clue where it went. He is not the fastest shutter speed in a camera by a long way.
if the man had worn the glasses he might have seen the devil in the detail
insert “correctly”
What Gosling really means is the tax increase in necessary because they need to find funds to pay MIF (Mexico Infrastructure Finance) ,,, smh… always the tax payers to suffer for the decisions of the so-called powers that be….
We should ALL stop blaming the PLP/UBP and the OBA and place blame where it ultimately lies…..MCCLEAN!!!