Here’s How Much Taxes Are About to Climb in Brampton

Published November 20, 2017 at 2:17 am

It’s no surprise Brampton’s 2018-2020 budget has big plans for the Flower City, covering grand-scale developments like Brampton’s new university and the downtown streetscaping project.

It’s no surprise Brampton’s 2018-2020 budget has big plans for the Flower City, covering grand-scale developments like Brampton’s new university and the downtown streetscaping project. With Brampton’s fast growth, its budget has had to evolve to keep pace with the developments. 

We reported earlier this month that Brampton had released its proposed budget for public feedback, and you may or may not have noticed that with the new budget comes an uptick on property taxes for some residents. 

The budget includes tax levy increases from both the City of Brampton and the Region of Peel, which will put a slight increase on your residential taxes next year.

In total, the proposed tax levy increase for 2018 is $16.5 million. What does that mean for you?

Residents can expect a possibly 2.7 per cent increase on the average residential property tax bill, based on the average residential assessment of $471,000 – so, you could be paying an additional $126 in property taxes per year. 

To break that down a little bit, the City of Brampton will be taking 1.7 per cent of that increase at about $80 per year and the Region of Peel will be taking 1.0 per cent of that increase at about $46 additionally per year. 

Of course, that’s based on the average home as stated above, so if your home assessment is higher than that, you’ll likely be paying more. 

In comparison, in the 2017 budget, taxes increased by 2.3 per cent, and residents paid about $107 in property taxes for an average residential home assessed at $443,000. So, taxes are gradually increasing as developments in Brampton are increasing.

Over all, the budget highlights improvements to fire and emergency services, Brampton Transit, the downtown streetscape, the university, and community centres, particularly in one of Brampton’s oldest areas, Bramalea.

Here’s a closer look at some of the interesting investments:

  • Eight new fire trucks over three years 
  • A full centralized fire campus including a fire station, a safety facility, an emergency operations centre, and a brand new headquarters
  • Thirty-one new conventional Brampton Transit buses and 34 new Zum buses over three years
  • A total of $150 million towards the Ryerson-Sheridan university that’s taking shape in Brampton, including a joint-use centre with a new library
  • Revitalizing recreational facilities in Bramalea
  • Increase STEM (engineering and robotics) recreational programming

The Etobicoke Creek Riverwalk is also still in the works, as well as sanitary and watermain improvements in and around downtown Brampton as part of the streetscaping project.

The recommended operating budget for the City for 2018 is $678 million, up from last year’s approved approximately $631 million by about $47 million.

As for next steps, the City is asking residents to review the proposed budget and submit feedback. 

You can find Brampton’s proposed budget and ways to submit feedback online here.

The budget will be approved in December 2017, so we’ll know for certain how much taxes will increase come next month!

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