Deputation to Town of Parry Sound Council – 2016-10-04
05 Wednesday Oct 2016
Written by parry034 in Budget/Financial, Parry Sound, Reflections, Urban Development
Tags
Growth, Infrastructure, Opinion, parry sound, Taxes, TOPS Financial Analysis, Town Council
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It was a rather short meeting last night, with only three people in the audience. It may have been because of the prospect of my deputation, or it might have been the Blue Jays playoff game. Here is the text of my deputation last night.
“This deputation relates to Item 9.3.3 on the agenda – Review of New Multi-Residential Tax Class
I have come to think of Parry Sound as an island municipality in that it sits on a very limited piece of land with essentially no opportunity for expansion. This means as a community we need to carefully consider how we develop what limited land is available in the best manner possible so as to provide residents and businesses with the best value for their municipal tax dollars.
What is obvious is that despite the limited land resources of our island municipality we are required to provide the majority of the community and social services for the West Parry Sound District. In most cases these services are located in prime locations and are not subject to property taxation, even though they make use of Town services, and in some cases require services above and beyond what is supplied to most residential and business property owners. A simple drive from the Town Office past the Mall provides evidence of the many properties that are exempt from property taxation on their assessed value, including churches, schools, social services organizations and colleges. In some cases, when they are taxed, it is far below what other businesses and residents pay. Add to this the home for the aged, the hospital, the brown field properties, the railways, the District Museum, and even the assessment reductions provided to properties directly adjacent to the rail line, and the loss in tax revenue is considerable. Yet these organizations provide critical services and support to neighbouring municipalities who carry none of the financial burden in terms of lost tax revenue, despite having a much, much larger land area and a far higher assessment base. Parry Sound currently has by far the highest tax rate in the district, in part as a result of the revenues lost because of these taxation exempt institutions. I estimate that these tax exempt properties account for between 10 and 15% of the Town’s total assessment, and add a similar amount to every residents and businesses property tax bill.
Hosting these organizations is part of our contribution to making West Parry Sound a better place to live for everyone, and I do not begrudge the additional tax costs. I do feel going forward that Council needs to carefully consider the cost to businesses and residents of attracting and supporting additional tax exempt organizations. These organizations often occupy prime real estate that could be used for commercial and residential purposes, both of which provide the taxes to support the required infrastructure build, upgrades, and maintenance. It has been argued that these organizations bring additional population who live in Parry Sound and directly support the Town through property taxes. It is my experience that many of these people, notably the higher earning folks, actually live in the surrounding communities, enriching the tax base of these communities because they want to be by a lake or the bay, have a large piece of land, all while paying lower taxes. And what services they need can be sourced in Parry Sound. A number of our neighbours are even suggesting Parry Sound should build a swimming pool so that they won’t be forced to drive to Bracebridge. Like Donald Trump has said, it’s legal and it’s smart business to keep your taxes low. But of course someone has to pay for services and the required support.
The Town is interested in extending Parry Sound Drive up to Old Highway 69, but the business model is hard to rationalize because the Town only is able to tax properties on one side of the road. Once again Parry Sound pays and our neighbours derive considerable benefit.
As we enter the 2017 budget discussions and Council considers Item 9.3.3, which I consider to be a very reasonable request and a relative ‘drop in the bucket’ in terms of lost revenue, I suggest the Town carefully consider how it can strike a reasonable balance between being the go-to resource for District social services while not burdening Parry Sound businesses and residents with the increasingly high cost of the required support.
One last thought. The location of the K-12 school is yet to be decided. I would suggest that the Town do what it can to support having the school built in one of our neighbouring municipalities, McDougall or Seguin. Foregoing the school would allow for the existing high school property to be adapted for commercial and/or residential purposes that would expand the assessment base and provide for additional tax revenues with little or no need for additional infrastructure. Any new school would not only occupy a valuable part of our little island municipality, but it would also come with additional costs. Beyond the expected costs to Parry Sound to fund supporting infrastructure upgrades for any new K-12 school, there would likely be additional, unexpected costs down the line, that will be the burden of the Parry Sound taxpayer. Witness the new Parry Sound Public School, in addition to the debentured costs for required infrastructure there is now talk of additional road changes and extensions to ease a parking problem, at the expense of Parry Sound residents and businesses, and to the great annoyance of local residents.
As a municipality we need to be smart. It is not our responsibility to provide resources and services for our rich neighbouring municipalities at the cost of our local residents and businesses. Supporting the unfortunate and needy is something we should do. The rich folks know how to take care of themselves.”
Island? This is an island.
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October 5, 2016 at 11:34 am
The Town of Parry Sound should apply to annex any lands that are needed for expansion of the town. If they invest in infrastructure such as roads, water, sewer and so on; then both sides of that road should be part of the Town’s tax base.
Parry Sound does not have near enough businesses visible from Highway 400; more should be done to annex the lands and provide the possibility for business to provide products and services to passing motorists.
The extremely low tax rate on vacant land unfortunately often leads to individuals or businesses holding land instead of selling or developing it. There should be a category for vacant land marked for development by the town and a much higher tax rate as a negative incentive for doing nothing with it.
October 5, 2016 at 2:40 pm
Every person in the Parry Sound Global Community requires an Urban Center where all the Professional Services, including Medical, and where all the Shopping Centers are located. Yes, the Town is that Island, and yes, we do subsidize the surrounding area with the needed infrastructure free of charge. But there is help to cover a portion of these extra costs through annual unconditional grants from the Province. But do these grants from Queens Park adequately address the disparity in who pays and who does not pay their fair share of providing, and maintaining, the required infrastructure of this Globally important Urban Center.
October 5, 2016 at 10:02 pm
I believe the grants cover the effective property taxes for the provincial and federal facilities that occupy property in Parry Sound (Coast Guard, Courthouse, MNR, …), and it’s pretty much a wash when it comes to these two players. They for the most part cover their assessed values at current Parry Sound tax rates.
Our neighbours have no reason or motivation to do anymore than what they do. They have an obligation to keep their tax rates as low as possible while providing the minimum of services. If the majority of the assessment is associated with seasonal properties that probably means the municipalities will focus on services tailored to their needs and the basics for the year round residents. That’s what they were elected to do. As a municipality we need to be smart and avoid the pressure from Carling, McDougall and Seguin residents to build an athletic complex (swimming pool) that their own municipalities don’t want to build and raises taxes to support. The seasonal residents certainly need a pool, they have one where they come from. But of course Parry Sound with a water treatment plant and waste water system is the logical choice. But it would create additional cost for the taxpayers of Parry Sound and take a prime piece of property off the market.
October 6, 2016 at 2:40 am
I agree with you 100%, and especially when it comes to a Swimming Pool. If it is built, it would be common sense to build it in conjunction with a new High School, and as you suggest, somewhere near the water tank in McDougal Twp.
The town used to get grants to maintain the Connecting Link (Bowes-Seguin-Church-Joseph-PS Road) but that well travelled route to access all of Parry Sound is now borne by the Town. Also, the Town is responsible for Policing the High School, and from what I get from the rumor Mill, the trouble makers are mostly from out of town. I justify (in my own mind) the disparity by the following logic……………If we were an Island community with NO adjoining population, our groceries would cost more with the smaller market of only 6000 people vs maybe 10000 at present. I then lump my taxes with my Transportation costs in order to access my needed Services, and compare that with theirs. Most people need (and have) at least two automobiles, I only need one. They have lower taxes, but pay much higher costs of travel than I do which evens things out in my mind. Another thing I found out is that the cost of delivery of Electric Power in the Ont Hydro community is at 100% of usage. My last bills were 55%–55%–69%–66%–53% for example.
But you are correct, and I appreciate your efforts on my behalf, and behalf of all senior citizens in PS for going to bat for us. Please keep it up.
October 6, 2016 at 3:55 pm
I still think you’re looking at it the wrong way. You’ve convinced yourself of this narrative wherein the rich municipalities are full of free-loading mooches who are depriving parry sound of the prosperity it would otherwise have.
The truth is, I think, quite the opposite.
The first point would be to acknowledge just how much parry sound benefits from the surrounding municipalities. To appreciate that fully, I recommend doing what I do a couple times a year, which is spend time in all the little wee towns and villages in the (truly) northern part of the province. Then you would see what a true “island” town is like. A true island town of comparative size to parry sound is quite a bit different from parry sound – and most of the difference is bad. A town of just 5-6k people that really was all on its own would not be able to afford any where near the level of services that Parry Sound does, they would not attract any where near the amount of private business that Parry Sound does, and they would not qualify for the same amount of government investment that parry sound does. Take away a substantial chunk of the private business, public services and government support that parry sound currently has, and you would see what parry sound would warrant if it stood on its own two feet. Fortunately it does not stand alone. The added population of the surrounding municipalities almost doubles the customer base and thereby attracts private business you could not otherwise dream of. This revenue allows parry sound to have public services you would otherwise do without. And by making parry sound into a defacto hub, it inclines the government to headquarter many of their enterprises there. All of that is thanks to the presence of the municipalities. You don’t have to thank us, just stop trying to tax us, offload services to us, steal our land, or whatever it is you’re trying to do.
The second point regards the development potential of parry sound. You and I have disagreed on this before, and I haven’t ventured into town and done a count yet, but I still say there is a ridiculously above average amount of empty and vacant businesses in parry sound. Parry Sound is right this moment operating at well below capacity in terms of commercial development, and yet your argument seems to be that parry sound needs more capacity, and woe is us, the non-profits and the mooching municipalities have encroached on our capacity. Hogwash. You’re not even using what you have. Do you seriously think there are, right this moment, commercial enterprises that are ready, willing and able to move or start up in parry sound yet are being prevented from doing so because they can’t find space?
Parry Sound’s chief problem is a lack of industry. The town has very little going for it outside of tourism. The logging is gone, the paper is gone. There are a few small – midsize industries – like shaw almex, stanley boats, selkirk chimmneys, Ross windows – but the rest are either, essentially, support services for those industries (e.g. groceries, gas, clothing, entertainment, etc.) or focused on the tourism industry.
It all starts with jobs. When the people have good jobs, they bring home a good income. They invest that money in their houses, in their properties. That raises the municipal tax base. They spend that money in their community. That makes support services more profitable, and thereby attracts more private enterprise (you might even get a Chrysler dealership again…). That makes the town as a whole more attractive, which then attracts more people, who in turn attract more businesses, and on and on the cycle goes. Without good jobs, you have a depressed community with run-down houses and vacant businesses, and eventually little more than the same as all the old outport towns the newfies are currently shutting down.
Taxing the municipalities, annexing their land, or making them build pools, isn’t going to bring any new good jobs to parry sound. All that will do is make the municipalities less attractive, which will actually be a hit on the one good industry the town does have – cottage tourism.
And by the way, when you’re done driving through some of those small northern towns to see what a true island town is like, after that you should take a drive through the surrounding municipalities. I think you’ll see that aside from the seasonal cottagers, the permanent residents are mostly of quite a different class. They are mostly poor. That’s why they live out in the country – it’s the only place they can afford the taxes. If you’re going to insist on going after the municipalities for all your woes, you should at least find a way to isolate your attack to the wealthy seasonal population; otherwise, you’re just taking out your frustration on people who, by and large, are poorer than you.
October 7, 2016 at 10:24 am
Ryan, no need to put up a defense. I’m not on the offence with regard to Parry Sound’s neighbours. I liken it to dealing with the bears. I don’t criticize the bears for being bears and doing what they feel they need to do. You have an apple tree in your backyard, as we have? Well don’t be surprised what the bears decide to do.
The surrounding municipalities have a business model quite different than that of Parry Sound. That’s okay. It’s not unlike the difference in objectives of fruit growers, or bee keepers, and the bears. Or the Israelis and the Palestinians.
My original post really was much like a “Bear Wise” reminder to Parry Sound Council.
I loved the article in today’s Beacon Star regarding the pushback at Seguin Council regarding any type of a “clean yards bylaw”. The concern was increased taxes and an infringement of property owner’s rights. (I have a God given right to keep my property in whatever condition I choose. Who cares what my neighbours think. I’m a collector. In a few years this stuff will fund my retirement. And don’t you dare raise my taxes.)
I encourage you to make a deputation to Parry Sound outlining what you think we are doing wrong as a town. I’ll be in the audience.
Vive la difference.