Maple Ridge council is about to set the final tax rates to accord with its budget passed in January.
Part of the budget includes a break for business and light industry classes, with the proposed increase dropped from 3.15 per cent to 1.85 per cent.
As a result of that, business taxes are only 2.71 times more than residential rates, a reduction of .04 per cent.
“It is important for this council to show its support for local businesses and one way to do this is to address the property tax burden,” Mayor Nicole Read said in a news release.
Maple Ridge council, in December, gave second reading to a 3.33-per-cent increase in residential property taxes for its 2016 budget – so if a home went up by the average increase in residential value, the property tax increase should be around three per cent.
For an average Maple Ridge home, based on a house, apartment or townhouse with a $400,000 assessed value, the tax increase would mean a total bill of $2,768 for general services and utilities (sewer, water and recycling).
