Estevan property owners are going to have to dig a little deeper when it comes time to pay their 2010 taxes.
City council voted Monday night to raise taxes by one mill, or roughly six per cent, for 2010. Along with the one mill increase, council also officially approved the much anticipated health levy. Currently set at .35 mills, the levy will collect $180,000 for health services in Estevan each year it is in effect.
Mayor Gary St. Onge said after council voted to not raise taxes in 2009, an increase was more or less inevitable this year. He added the increase should allow the City to complete all of the projects it has scheduled for 2010.
"We had some stuff we could have cut out, but it is all very valuable work and we thought we should get it done," said St. Onge who noted the fact the City did not receive the extra money it was expecting in the form of municipal operating grants from the provincial government played a role in their final decision.
"If we would have had the $500,000 from the government, that would have been pretty well a mill; but we are not going to blame it on them because we are going to get it next year. It would have gone up a certain amount because last year it never went up at all, but whether it would have been a full mill, I don't know, probably not."
St. Onge said he is expecting there to be some anger in the community over the increase but feels the city has to keep pace with rising costs in almost every area.
"I've heard about it today already," he said. "Nobody ever wants their taxes to go up even though they realize that everything else goes up, but some of them think we don't pay more for wages and we don't pay more for utilities like everybody else and gasoline. There is always a backlash, nobody wants to pay more taxes."
As for the health levy, St. Onge said the decision wasn't necessarily one they wanted to make but one they felt was a necessity with a number of Saskatchewan cities and RMs offering various enticements to attract health care professionals to their community.
"Its not an area we think we should be in but we don't really have a choice," said St. Onge.
Councillor Roy Ludwig, who is also a member of the St. Joseph's Hospital board, said if the City doesn't get involved it risks being left behind.
"I believe the levy is necessary in these times," he said. "I realize anytime you have an increase, it may not be well received but with the critical shortages that we have now, not only in our area, but in the province with doctors and professionals of all types, we have no alternative.
"Unfortunately it is a money issue with these doctor shortages because other communities are offering incentives and if we don't jump in that ball game, we will be left out in the cold and that takes money. To deal with, and compete with, communities not only of our size but even smaller communities, if we don't jump in and offer the incentives that other communities are, we simply will be left without these professionals. It's the nature of the beast that we live in right now."
All money collected will be spent on three particular areas - funding the new regional nursing home, making St. Joseph's Hospital a regional hospital and the recruitment of health professionals.
The City will collect the funds from Estevan property owners and then plans to turn them over to the RM of Estevan which will manage the account and provide regular reports.
The RM is also considering a health levy although no final decision has been made. It's believed if the RM goes ahead with a levy, it will generate around $70,000 to 80,000 a year.
