Abbotsford property owners will pay slightly less tax in 2019 than originally thought.
The city now estimates it will receive an extra $140,000 in revenue from new growth, meaning the already approved 2.98 per cent tax increase has been revised downwards, to 2.88 per cent.
The savings will be small though. The owner of a $700,000 house will save just enough money to buy a cup of coffee: about $2.50.
The extra revenue comes from taxes on newly developed properties.
Most of this year’s increase in tax revenue will go toward paying a new employer health tax levied by the province in place of MSP premiums. That cost has thrown a “monkey wrench into most city’s budgets,” Mayor Henry Braun said Monday.
Perhaps the biggest effect on a homeowner’s tax increase will be how their assessment changed in relation to the citywide average of 11 per cent.
A home with a value that increased more than 11 per cent will be hit with a tax increase above 2.88 per cent. People with home values that increased less than 11 per cent (or dropped) will see their taxes rise less than 2.88 per cent (or even drop).
In previous years, single-family houses saw above-average home value assessment increases, leading to significantly higher tax bills for those residents. This year, apartments and townhouses saw large jumps in assessments, leaving those residents to face higher tax bills. Many single-family homeowners, meanwhile, will see below-average tax increases.
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