Councillor Brenda Johnson telling you like it is in Ward 11
AREA RATING will remain !! You Won’t Pay for Services You Don’t Receive !!
In its simplest terms, it you don’t get the service, you don’t pay for it. That is the concept of area rating and it will remain in place and Councillor Johnson is pleased!
Volunteer Firefighters; if you have them, you will be area rated for them, you won’t be paying the full time firefighter costs. Binbrook, Mount Hope, Rural Upper Stoney Creek, Winona and Woodburn have primarily volunteer fire fighter services.
Transit; if you don’t have it, you don’t pay for it. If you have it, then the tax levy remains the same. Council decided to defer it until 2015.
Sidewalks & Street Lights; this is a new addition to area rating. In the past, everyone paid this levy. Now if you are considered rural, you won’t be paying for them, in fact you will receive a small credit.
Recreation; if you are rural, then you will still be area rated for recreation. If you are urban, then you will pay the full levy.
Having said that, the only major changes where Ward 11 will see an increase, will be the Firefighting levy based on whether you receive full time service or part time service and that is detailed better below
Given the above, if you live in an area that is being serviced by the full time (career) firefighters, then you will see an increase because you have been paying for volunteer firefighters. You will now be paying for full time (career) firefighters. It is a level of fairness that could not be avoided. The areas of Ward 11 that will be impacted by this change in area rating is the urban area in the north section of Glanbrook, such as the new development on the south side of Rymal Road, the Urban Development Area on Twenty Road north to the hydro corridor in Mt. Hope and also the Red Hill (Glanbrook) Industrial Park.
Also, there will be an increase to the cost of Volunteer Service in Glanbrook as a result of paying a small portion of the emergency back up response. The city is harmonizing the volunteer rates into one rate across the entire rural area for the city. That means that a rural resident in Upper Stoney Creek with volunteer service will pay the same rate as a rural resident in Flamborough with a volunteer service. Currently Glanbrook residents are paying $60 for volunteer fire fighters based on the average assessed household. The harmonized rate is $165 based on the average household.
Please note, Council passed a motion to phase these increases over a 4 year period. Binbrook, town of Mount Hope (proper), Rural Upper Stoney Creek and Woodburn are still considered rural, whereas Winona and settlements along Rymal Road are considered urban.
………………………. Status Quo – Urban – Rural Stoney Creek ………… 205 – 335 – 165 Glanbrook ………… 60 – 335 – 165 Ancaster …………. 273 – 335 – 165 Hamilton ………… 391 – 335 – NA Dundas …………. 246 – 335 – 165 Flamborough …………. 200 – 335 – 165
More detailed information for this item and others will be put on my web page to keep you informed. If you would like to talk with Brenda further, please don’t hesitate to contact her at 905-546-4513 or email Brenda.Johnson@hamilton.ca or her web page www.brendajohnson.ca
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