Press Release

 New Flamborough CVAs third-lowest in city

 When the new Hamilton council gathered at Liuna Station on November 19 for an orientation meeting, there was some good news from the Finance Department for Flamborough homeowners.

 Corporate Services General Manager Joe Rinaldo presented preliminary figures from the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) which saw a sharp drop for Flamborough’s Current Value Assessments (CVAs).

After a long stretch of double-digit hikes, Flamborough will see an average increase of 8.7 per cent in the CVAs delivered before the end of November.

 

Since the city average for CVAs is 8.8 per cent, Flamborough taxpayers will actually start the budget process at .1 per cent below the eventual property tax hikes.

 

“This is huge news for Flamborough residents,” said Ward 15 Councillor Margaret McCarthy. “To be honest, it’s the best news we’ve had since we’ve been part of the new city.”

 

In 2001, Flamborough homeowners saw an average CVA increase of 12.2 percent. That was followed in 2003 with an average hike of 16.6 per cent. Those increases were, by far, the highest increases Hamilton-wide.

In fact, the 8.7 per cent CVA hike was the third lowest in the entire City of Hamilton. Stoney Creek fared the best with a 7.9 per cent CVA increase, followed by Hamilton with 8.4 per cent. Above Flamborough was Glanbrook at 9.0 per cent, Dundas at 10.0 per cent and Ancaster at 11.4 per cent.

The relevance of a former municipality’s CVA average versus the city average is significant. Since the city average was 8.8 per cent, any homeowners whose CVA went up exactly 8.8 per cent would be considered at the zero point. Simply put, if at the end of the 2004 budget deliberations, the municipal taxes went up 5 per cent, that homeowner’s taxes would go up exactly 5 per cent. In Flamborough’s case, because the average is .1 per cent less, the Flamborough homeowner would see a 4.9 per cent increase. However, for the same 5 per cent increase budget, an Ancaster homeowner would see a 7.6 per cent increase because they are 2.6 per cent above the city average.

While Rinaldo cautioned the councillors that these were preliminary figures from MPAC, he also stated that he did not expect these figures to change.

“After years of getting hammered up there with double-digit CVA figures, we’re finally getting a long-deserved break,” noted McCarthy.

She speculated that perhaps the pressure she put on MPAC, which included both visiting former Finance Minister Janet Ecker’s office and helping over 300 Flamborough constituents fill out their Requests for Reconsideration, might have helped Flamborough get a better CVA average this time around.

“MPAC has always maintained that their increases are based solely on sales figures from the area,” she noted, “but a drop from 16.6 percent to 8.7 per cent is huge. Perhaps the squeaky wheel got a little grease.”

“We still have a long way to go – we haven’t even begun 2004 budget deliberations and the shortfall will be significant – but I’ll take any good news I can get,” she said.

For more information, call McCarthy at 905-546-2713.