The proposed budget for next year coming before Quispamsis council and it includes a recommendation for a 2.15-cent hike in the property tax rate.
The staff report to council says that when you factor in the fact that the town will be taking care of garbage collection in the new year, even with the tax hike, the average homeowner will be saving about $232 annually. Here’s the breakdown: the report says when you take the average assessed value of a home in the town which is $225,000, a 2.15-cent hike in the tax rate means an additional $48 dollars in extra property tax. Meantime, the average cost of garbage pickup in teh town was about $280 so that’s where the $232 figure comes from.
The sewer user rate for 2016 is proposed to be 1-percent higher than 2015, the water user fee fixed charge has a 2-percent increase over last year and the water user fee consumption charge has a 2.5-percent increase proposed.
There is an extra $55,000 in the Community Funding and Equalization Grant for the town of Quispamsis for 2016. On that, Mayor Murray Driscoll says, “We started out a few years ago at close to a million dollars and it has been cut back, and cut back, and cut back until it’s much smaller now but there was an increase and all I can say is we’re grateful for that increase.”
There is an increase of 1.39-percent in the tax base.
The goal is for Quispamsis council to pass the budget during next Tuesday’s council meeting.
