Quispamsis Tax Rate To Drop In 2022

Unprecedented growth in Quispamsis means the town’s tax rate will be going down in the new year.

Council approved the 2022 operating and capital budgets in principle during a special meeting Saturday.

The new tax rate was set at $1.3163 per $100 of assessed value, a drop of 2.65 cents compared to 2020.

“The growth within the community has allowed us to do this,” Mayor Libby O’Hara said in a phone interview. “The fact that the community is growing and we had a significant assessment, lowering the tax rate just seemed to make sense at this point in time.”

The municipal tax base in Quispamsis grew by 9.06 per cent over the past year, according to documents provided to the town by the province.

O’Hara said the town currently has 80 new housing starts this year and expects to hit 100 by the end of December.

But she said communities have to be careful when lowering tax rates to ensure they remain sustainable.

“We have to make sure that some of these anomalies of growth or increased tax base aren’t just one-offs,” said O’Hara. “That growth has to continue in order for us to reap the benefits of having a tax base that allows us to provide the services that people expect.”

While the tax rates will be going down, residents will pay about three per cent more for water and sewer. User fees at the qplex and Quispamsis Memorial Arena will also climb by around the same amount.

“When we run a deficit at the qplex of $700,000 a year, when we run a deficit at the QMA for about $200,000 a year, that also tells us that we are assisting the users of those facilities, so in order to make sure that it’s fair across the board, we want to make sure that the users are also contributing to that debt that we are carrying on those facilities,” said O’Hara.

The 2022 general operating budget is $28.2 million, an increase of seven per cent compared to 2021, while the utility operating budget rose by 4.59 per cent to nearly $3 million.

Quispamsis is also proposing more than $9 million in capital projects, including more than $2 million for roads and sidewalks.

Other projects include expanding the pickleball courts, repairing the tennis courts, and upgrades at Hammond River Park.

The budgets are expected to come before council on Nov. 2 for final approval.

You can view all of the budget documents by clicking here.