Davidson town council is issuing ratepayers a rebate on their residential taxes this year after receiving numerous complaints over the past few weeks about the huge jump in people’s tax bills.
Davidson Mayor Clayton Schneider said council decided to approve the rebate, which comes to $1.24 per $1,000 of a homeowner’s taxable assessment on their property, at their monthly council meeting last Tuesday because an error was made when preparing the 2013 taxes. He said $49,650 that should have been put on commercial taxes was put on residential instead resulting in Davidson homeowners being overcharged and town businesses being undercharged.
“It can’t be reversed, so that’s why we went with that rebate,” said Schneider. “They couldn’t be reissued. I wish. That was the first thing I asked was can we, whoever has paid their taxes, give them a credit and just redo it and reissue taxes. The answer I guess was no.”
Schneider said the main reason people are seeing such a jump in their tax bill is because this is a reassessment year and most properties went up in value. He said the six per cent increase in municipal taxes instituted this year was not the culprit.
“I think what was overlooked was the assessment year,” he said, noting the town’s residential assessment doubled this year to $40 million. “We weren’t prepared for an assessment that hasn’t been as high as 1997. It jumped that much. Davidson is not the only (town) facing these concerns right now. It is the entire province. Talking to people from Leader, Outlook, all those places, they saw the same thing we did. It’s a gigantic jump.”
Bud Prpick said his residential tax bill for his home on McGregor Street was $1,000 higher this year than last. He said the jump came as a shock because he received no warning this was coming.
“I expected a raise, but not $1,000,” said Prpick. “I think I can get by with it, but we’re senior citizens and actually we’ve got no more income coming. Just a little bit of pension and stuff.”
Davidson councillor Jason Shaw said a committee has been formed with council members and administration to try and figure out where the changes are in the rates from last year to this year and what council can do to help. He said the main problem that council has faced about this situation is homeowners have been asking questions about why their taxes went up and councillors don’t have a solid idea of what the tax situation in Davidson is.
To read more please see the July 22 print edition of The Davidson Leader.