Anatomy of a tax increase (Details Part 1 of 3) (1%= 242,063)

'The anatomy of a tax increase' VERNON posting gives an overview of how Council took a staff budget containing a 0% tax increase and reviewed it and morphed it into a 2.02% tax increase. This posting which will be the first of a 3 part post will address the details within each of the various sessions.

----------------------------
The first part of the budget details the staff changes that were made that corrects some of the items that were included (duplicated) or excluded in error. The staff were quick to make these corrections before the budget was reviewed. These corrections brought the staff budget in at $92,876 surplus (-.384% tax decrease).
----------------------------
The Council changes to the budget were basically a review of the departmental budgets and Council managed to increase this surplus by $294,027 (-1.215% tax decrease). Highlights within this section included:

• eliminating budget for insurance for Medical Clinic building that we are tearing down. ($3500)
• Increase revenue from BC Gas Franchise ($15,350) (Phone call to Terasen to get exact amount for 2010. (It is based on 2009 collections from customer -payable in Nov. 2010)
• Increase Fire Recoveries to $42,500 ($33,745) Fire Chief confirms that line item was underestimated.
• Remove Grants for Art Policy - a line item ($23,500) that was a product of the past. Reserves had built up to in excess of $60,000. (capped)
  
• Remove Social responsibility Grant $50,000
  
• Use Casino Reserve to Fund Council Discretionary and Community Grants ($150,000)
• Reduce Auxiliary Training Expense - (a line that had been in budget for at least the last 3 years and the most ever spent was $12,000 with an average of about $5,000 per year was cut in half ) ($15,150)
• Update Council Indemnities for Correct CPI - Council Salary was corrected to reflect correct CPI change of 1% that all Council will get as a salary adjustment in 2010. ($2782)(originally budgeted at 1.1%)
• A motion to reduce the Mayor's discretionary fund from $13,568 to $8568 was defeated on a tie vote.
• A motion THAT the indemnity of $137.00 per meeting for Council Members be a separate line item in the budget, and any excess at the end of the year be placed in the Community Grants Account. (passed 5-2) (There is $32,000 set aside in 2010 budget for Council Committee Claims)

At the End of this portion of the budget deliberations before we go into the SLA (Service level adjustments) the tax decrease stood at $386,903 (- 1.598)

P.5-23 of Agenda Package (These are the approved minutes for the Jan 13 and 15th all day sessions.) Most of the votes for above can be found here)
The orginal Presented Budget Package can be found at 2010-2014 City of Vernon Proposed Financial Plan. - 21.53MB

City to help Citizens Remove Snow !

Reprint of 11/30/06 Article.

CLICK ON CARTOON TO ENLARGE! (Wink, wink, Nudge, Nudge !)
















MINUTES OF A REGULAR OPEN MEETING OF COUNCIL
HELD MONDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2006

Moved by Councillor Cochrane, seconded by Councillor Beardsell:

THAT Council supports the City of Vernon continuing to be responsible for clearing snow from sidewalks adjacent to City owned property and major routes including 27 Street, Highway 97 and Highway 6 as designated in Section A of the Snow and Ice Control Policy;

AND FURTHER, that homeowners continue to be responsible for clearing snow from sidewalks adjacent to their property within 24 hours of the accumulation of snow as regulated by Section 5.7 in the Good Neighbour Bylaw No. 4980;

AND FURTHER, that Council amends 5(e) of the staff recommendations in the report dated November 14, 2006 from 50mm of snow to 150mm of snow as follows:

5.(e) Not withstanding the above, the City of Vernon will begin assisting with sidewalk clearing operations on residential sidewalks for major storms exceeding 150mm of snow, within 24 hours of the storm event, subject to available manpower.

AND FURTHER, that the 2007 Budget includes provision for the purchase of two pre-owned snow clearing machines estimated at a total cost of $60,000 and that the Snow and Ice Control Budget be increased by $20,000 in 2007 to account for the admanpower required to provide the higher service level; AND FURTHER, that the Operations Manager bring forward a request to Council for early budget approval for implementation as of January 1, 2007.

CARRIED, with Councillor Nicol, opposed.

WHEN IS A STORM 'A MAJOR STORM'

Reprint of Nov. 29, 2006

By Vernon Daily Courier staff http://www.dailycourier.ca/
It was a matter of inches. City council debated how deep the snow would have to be before staff started helping with the clearing of sidewalks at Monday's meeting. A staff proposal called for the city to come to the aid of resident snow shovelers only during major storm events.A major storm was defined as snow depth of two inches, or about half-an-inch taller than a ping pong ball."I have trouble equating two inches with a major storm," said Coun. Pat Cochrane. "Two inches is basically a skiff of snow." Council finally settled on six inches as a major storm event and the point at which the city would help citizens clear their sidewalks.Failure to remove snow and ice from a sidewalk includes a fine of $50 per infraction.Operation services manager Shirley Koenig had presented a report on snow clearing at the meeting. The report was launched after a resident complained it was unfair that residents with sidewalks were forced to do extra shoveling while those without sidewalks had no such obligation.The report recommended that the city purchase two pre-owned snow clearing machines for $60,000 and give residents a hand during major storm events of 50 millimetres or two inches.

City of Vernon Audit Committee to Meet ?

May 14, 2008	Municipalities and Regional Districts must send audited financial statements to Inspector by May 15th, as well as LGDE and LGDE Tax forms.	[167(4) CC; 814(3) LGA]
May 15, 2008	Forward copies of Financial Plan Bylaw and Tax Rate Bylaw to Ministry of Community Services.

------------------------------
Don Quixote Note: Generally the Audit Committee of the City is briefed by the auditors on the financial statements of the City. There appears to be no scheduled meeting with this committee on the latest posted May meeting list. Maybe the auditors will be presenting the financial statements at the full Council Meeting on May 12
----------------
The May 12 meeting does not show any presentation of the financial statements and the finance meeting on Thursday did not discuss them. It appears that Vernon's financial statements may be delayed this year? Generally it the past they have been presented to council prior to being shipped off the satisfy the Provincial Statutory requirement.

Averaging assessments over three years

The provincial government recognizes that the large increases in the value of waterfront properties has resulted in higher property taxes that are a hardship for some long term property owners. The Homeowners’ Grant and Property Tax Deferral programs partly address these impacts.

The Community Charter provides authority to municipalities to average assessments over three years under certain circumstances. (The City of Vancouver is the only municipality that currently averages assessments.)
===========

Assessment averaging and phasing options

198 (1) Instead of imposing tax rates on the assessed value of land, an annual property tax bylaw may impose rates applicable to one or more property classes by assessment averaging or assessment phasing in accordance with the regulations under subsection (2).
(2) For the purpose of allowing municipalities to moderate the impact of sudden changes in the assessed value of land, the Lieutenant Governor in Council may make regulations as follows:
(a) establishing formulas for determining modified assessed values that are to be used to impose property value taxes and authorizing variation of those formulas;
(b) exempting, or authorizing the exemption of, particular types of property within a property class, or of property in prescribed circumstances, from the application of a bylaw under this section;
(c) providing for a process to review and correct errors made in applying a bylaw under this section to any property;
(d) establishing restrictions, conditions and requirements relating to the imposition of tax rates under this section;
(e) in relation to taxes that are imposed under other enactments and collected by a municipality, providing that, despite the other enactments,
(i) the values imposed under this section apply, and
(ii) the rates to be imposed are to be determined using those values.

----------------- Assessment Averaging and Phasing Regulation

Anticipated Fine Revenue underestimated in budget ?

In the 2007 budget the anticipated fine revenue for acct 216200000 Prov. Govt Revenue Sharing Grant was $394,740.

The actual amount received was $495,253 an unexpected windfall of $100,513.

The 2008 budget has been set at $402,635 which is 2% above last years budget and $92,618 below what we received last year.

In the 2007 Financial Plan was this explanation of how the Provincial Fine Revenue was distributed: 'The City's share of the $40,000,000 provincial revenue is based upon the the City's policing costs compared to all Municipalities policing costs.'
-------------------
Don Quixote NOTE:
This item will be used in my Public Input re the budget input scheduled for April 14 unless I find an answer or they are corrected by council resolution prior to that date.
Remember at $160,000 per %age point the present budget deficit of 2.26% = $361,600

Budget battle brewing

By Scott Neufeld - North Shore Outlook - February 28, 2008

The old saying goes that the numbers don’t lie. But in the District of North Van, the budget numbers have been twisted into a dispute between finance staff and one councillor. Responding to comments in an article in last week’s Outlook, chief financial officer Nicole Deveaux says Coun. Doug MacKay-Dunn has it wrong. “He’s getting mixed up,” Deveaux said. MacKay-Dunn is opposed to the way staff are squirreling away money in the district’s reserves. Last week he told The Outlook staff are doing it on their own without a clear policy from council. “What we have yet to do is develop a policy for how to fund these reserves over time,” Deveaux explained. “Which money will go in is not really relevant to the budget.” Dunn said he’s not mixed up, he’s just a “stickler” for process. “I’ve been called worse in my day,” he said, adding council and staff didn’t follow a proper process in dismantling the Heritage Fund. “We’ll just see who’s mixed up.” These comments are just the latest salvos in a debate that’s been raging since last December. What touched off the disagreement was Deveaux’s recommendation that the two-decades-old Heritage Fund be sliced into three pieces. A $4 million slice would be dropped into a fund for new capital projects, a $5.5 million portion would be slipped into a fund to replace infrastructure and another $6 million would go into a fund for the buying and selling of district land. A further $6.5 million of “uncommitted capital” would be deposited into the infrastructure replacement fund. While council approved splitting up the fund (with MacKay-Dunn opposed) no policy was passed to determine the source of this uncommitted funding, said MacKay-Dunn. Now transfers to this fund have popped up in the proposed 2008 budget. “You can’t just tax from the point of view that you want to put it into a slush fund,” he said.

Deveaux argues that the debate is not relevant to the budget because reserves don’t directly affect taxpayers.“You never tax for reserves,” Deveaux said. “This is non-tax revenue for the most part.” Despite this claim, two per cent of the proposed 4.5 per cent tax increase is going straight into the infrastructure replacement reserve. MacKay-Dunn said there should have been public input before $22 million of the public purse was diverted from its original purpose. “This has been an ongoing issue because this is revenue we won’t have going forward,” he said. “Once we do that we have to readjust the budget – to find that revenue we have to raise taxes.” Using the new reserve strategy the district is hoping to stash enough cash to pay for more than $100 million in recreation facility renovations and another $30 million for a North Shore wastewater treatment plant.“In light of these numbers we are so far from over saving,” Deveaux said.

---------------------

Don Quixote Note: I posted this story to show the writing talent of Scott Neufeld (Ex editor of Vernon Courier who has turned up at the North Shore Outlook ) and to show that other municipalities and regional districts are building up reserves in a stealth like manner and these methods employed by some finance departments must be exposed to the light of day. Open and transparent debate must be made by responsible councils before unauthorized reserves are built up and the taxpayers must know why they are being taxed.

Budgets are been passed without adequate scrutiny and I will be posting shortly on the reserves that are in the financial plan at NORD for the Multiplex and the Performing Arts Theatre that are projected to reach almost $7 million and $3.5 million respectively by 2017. (If you can't get the taxpayer to allow you to finance a capital project because you must get it by them via counter petition or referendum, then building up reserves via direct stealth taxation is the way to go.) $107,000 of this years tax increase for the Theatre and $145,000 for the Multiplex are budgeted to go into Reserves. Will NORD reopen their budget to debate this policy of Reserves by stealth or are they fully aware of it and think that it is o.k. to blindside the taxpayer?

Vernon still has 2nd highest Residential taxes in valley.

Click on Image to Enlarge:
After a long time of emailing and correspondence the Provincial Statistician has made the necessary changes to the NORD part of their statistics. Stats used in this comparison for 2007 can be found at Statistics. Taxes & Charges on a Representative House.

This comparison does not attempt to analyze the Utility Charges such as water, garbage etc. that exist in these cities.

Property Tax Estimator KELOWNA

Property Tax estimator -Kelowna Values shown for 2008 are estimates* only. Final taxes will be calculated once tax policies have been decided and after 2008 budgets are approved by the School Board, Regional District, BC Assessment, Hospital and the City, in May 2008. Residential assessments for the City of Kelowna have increased on average by 17% which would result in an estimated 4.5% increase in the total tax levy. 2007 2008 Difference Change Assessed Value $500,000 $561,500 $61,500 12.3% Tax Levies School $1,081.70 $1,066.68 ( $15.02) - 1.4% Municipal $1,772.45 $1,792.93 $20.48 1.2% Regional District $160.85 $158.62 ( $2.23) - 1.4% BC Assessment $33.85 $33.35 ( $0.50) - 1.5% Hospital $145.95 $143.91 ( $2.04) - 1.4% SIR Program $13.93 $13.73 ( $0.20) - 1.4% Total Tax Levy $3,208.73 $3,209.22 $0.49 0.0% Note: Total taxes shown are for the taxable portion of your property's assessment and do not include local services taxes (specified area charges, parcel taxes, garbage and landfill charges) or any reductions for Home Owner Grants. *2008 values are estimated and valid only for residential properties (Class 01). Estimates assume a 5.66% municipal tax rate increase and 3% tax rate increase for other taxing authorities. The City has no information at this time regarding the actual tax requirements for other taxing authorities. ---------------------- Don Quixote Note: I have plugged in 12.3% assessment increase to produce a property tax increase of $0. (For illustration only). Handy little calculation tool that Vernon should acquire from Kelowna and put on the Vernon website after plugging in applicable Vernon and regional parameters.

Regular Meeting of Council AGENDA HIGHLIGHTS

AGENDA AGENDA PKG 1 AGENDA PKG 2 AGENDA PKG 3
Regular Meeting Aug. 27 1:30 PM

• Vernon Transit Delegation
• Vernon Hospice House request for funding (p.15)
• Council discussion of Library/Civic Complex
• Municipal fee bylaw for Smith Creek Area 2 (P.17)
• Grant request for 2008 Ford's world Curling from NORD
• Financials for 2554 Lakeshore Road -from Airport Advisory Committee (P.49)
• Okanagan Landing sewer servicing plan .(P.53)
• Waterfront Plan (p.55) from Environmental Committee.
• BC Transit Grant priorities (p.59)
• 2006 Annual Report (p. 109)
• 2597 Lakeshore road Dev Variance permit and Road closure(p.151)
• Changes to Outbacker latecomer bylaw: P.191

FINANCE AND AUDIT COMMITTEE MEETING THURSDAY AT 1PM.

It was revealed that the audited Financial Statements for 2006 will be produced at the Audit Committee meeting following the Finance Committee meeting at 1 PM Aug 16. The separate Airport statements also will be available ?

Hopefully we will see the $1,550,000 surplus broken down by its sources and where it presently sits. A review of reserves will be essential if Council insists on raiding them to make the Civic Complex a reality.

Don Quixote Sidebar:
I had a beer bet with a local media rep. that financial statements would be made available before Sept. Same guy who bet on the counter petition falling short of the 2777 names required. (I would name him but I don't want anybody to move in on my Pigeon.)

MUNICIPAL TAX RELIEF re PROPERTY TAXES

Are any property tax relief programs available?

http://www.rev.gov.bc.ca/rpt/property_tax_deferment.htm Property Tax Deferment Program
Property Tax Deferment is a low interest loan program that assists qualifying BC homeowners in paying the annual property taxes on their homes. Presently 11,000 households defer property taxes under the program, which began in 1974.
Certain conditions must be met in order for a tax deferment application to be approved. For qualifications for Property Tax Deferment,http://www.rev.gov.bc.ca/rpt/DetailedPages/property_tax_deferment_qualifications.htmFor information on how to apply for tax deferment, http://www.rev.gov.bc.ca/rpt/DetailedPages/how_to_apply_for_property_tax_deferment.htm Simple Interest charges apply to deferred taxes. Deferred taxes, administration fees and interest must be paid to close your deferment account. for information on how to repay your deferred taxes. for BROCHURE see http://www.rev.gov.bc.ca/rpt/Brochures/PTDView.pdf
For more information on tax deferment, contact the taxing authority or government agent office in your area. See also the Fact Sheet on http://vernonblog.com/exit.php?url_id=2742&entry_id=1425 Special Assessments for certain long term residents.
The INTEREST RATE REGULATION for the Land Tax Deferment Act - effective April 1, 2006 has now been deposited. The interest rate for the period April 1, 2007 to September 30, 2007 is 4%.

Middleton Way Project Starts JUNE 11

Click to Enlarge: http://www.vernon.ca/news/wftc/070610.pdf

Finance Committee Meeting Tuesday at 1 PM

http://www.vernon.ca/council/meeting_schedule.pdf

June 5, Tuesday: Finance Committee 1:00 pm Kalamalka Lake Room

---------------------
Don Quixote Note: At this meeting I expect to hear the debate and recommendation on the O'keefe Ranch Grant application for $1.1 million. I hope to hear the detailed variance report that will tell us how the $1.55 million operating surplus in 2006 was achieved.

I also expect some discussion of why The BC Property Tax Deferment Program information was not part of the tax package mailed out to all taxpayers. It was a great reminder last year and it was discontinued this year?

Under the program, the Province pays municipal or rural property taxes on behalf of eligible property owners who are 55 or older, a surviving spouse, or a person with a disability. Participants may defer taxes on a home in which they live and have equity equal to at least 25 per cent of the current value, and may continue to defer as long as they own and live in the home. After paying a one-time, $60 administration fee, approved applicants benefit from simple interest charged on their deferment accounts at a rate two per cent below the bank prime rate, and they can renew annually for $10.

More money spent inside, less on bricks and morter ?

These figures are taken off the sheets attached to each years tax notices sent to each taxpayer in May. Note where the trend from 2000 to 2007 has occurred. (administration has risen from 15.54% to 21.17% while public works has decreased from 21.05% to 15.17%) Taxes are those charged on the so called average house each year. Note that we have no debt charges in 2007 but a 4.95% Residential Tax increase. (go figure !)

Councillor calls city surplus ’ridiculous’

By Jordan Nicurity Monday, May 28, 2007 http://www.dailycourier.ca/stories.php?id=45955

Vernon City Council has revealed that 2006 was a good year financially for the city. A very, very good year. At the finance meeting on Thursday the city made it known that the net surplus for 2006 was $1,554,204. “It‘s a ridiculous amount of money,” said Coun. Barry Beardsell, “I was expecting a surplus but nothing of this magnitude. Usually you end up with a surplus of $50,000 or $100,000.” While this may seem like a pleasant surprise, Beardsell said he is not sure the public will view it as such, especially after the raise in residential taxes this year. “A lot of people will be saying, ’If (council) has got so much money then why not cut my taxes?‘” said Beardsell.

Coun. Patrick Nicol feels that citizens of Vernon will be more understanding. “Citizens always appreciate when they get something for their hard-earned tax dollars, and they‘ll see that they get that,” said Nicol, noting that much of the surplus will go towards the redesign of Middleton Way. “It‘s a matter of balance, we have big projects with considerable expenditures that need to be addressed,” said Nicol. While the sources of the surplus will not be made public until Thursday‘s finance committee meeting, it is known that approximately $440,000 has come from development fee revenue that was not budgeted. Councillors are aware that citizens may criticize the city for deliberately underestimating growth in order to secure a large surplus. According to Nicol, this is partly true. “The growth percentage we chose was us being conservative,” he said. “There was a very healthy debate on the percentage and maybe we were overly cautious.” Under a new accounting system known as Generally Accepted Accounting Practices (GAAP), the funds have been temporarily allocated to various reserve accounts until a full review of the city‘s reserve account system happens later in the year. The GAAP system must be used due to legislation enacted by the provincial government in the wake of the Enron scandal in the U.S.

Vernon has an extra $1,554,204 from last year budget !

The NET surplus for 2006 is $1,554,204. I stress the word NET because this is the amount that will be sliced and diced by the Council into various 'flavour of the day' projects or formally put into Reserves to be used in the future. This figure above of $1,554,204 does NOT include more than $726,090 that were 'carried over' projects of 2006 to be completed in 2007 that were authorized by the previous Financial Manager. As well a further $3,135,975 had been authorized by council resolution in 2006 to be carried over to 2007. (Mostly the 25th ave construction deferred to spring of 2007).

Despite the fact that the originally estimated surplus was $700,000 and they used $230,600 of this for the OCP review the council refused to use any of the surplus to reduce residential class taxes when they decided to reduce business class taxes. (Residential taxes were increased from the original 2% forecast of $193,868 to $468,868 which is a 4.95% increase, while business taxes were decreased from the original 2% forecast of $100,608 to ($311,092 decrease) which is a 6.6% decrease.)

I hope that when the Council does their final slicing and dicing and their formal reserve account review which is long overdue they will consider using account # 246-201-024 which is a tax equalization reserve to place sufficient money from this windfall surplus to reduce the residential class taxes in 2008 by at least the amount by which they were increased (screwed) in 2007 !

IT IS TOO LATE TO ADJUST THE 2007 TAXES AS NOTICES HAVE GONE OUT BUT PUT ASIDE ENOUGH IN THE TAX EQUALIZATION RESERVE TO CORRECT IN 2008. (After all it is an Election year and individuals vote not businesses.)

QUESTION: What is a tax Equalization Reserve?
ANSWER: It is the taxpayer's equivalent of the Council Initiative Fund, Slush fund or the Mayor's "wiggle room" where the excess taxes or surpluses that had been collected from the year could be deposited. This fund which would benefit the taxpayers tax RATES has not been used since late 1984 when it was created to smooth out excessive rate increases in any one year.
The Council should commit to put the under budgeted building fees and others of the same ilk into this reserve each year to smooth out future taxes when revenues are more correctly forecast or even mis forecasted on the high side. The Council of the day can still remove these reserves and slice and dice them but the open audit trail would be more transparent and open to constructive public scrutiny.

2007 TRAFFIC FINE REVENUE BY MUNICIPALITY

http://www2.news.gov.bc.ca/news_releases_2005-2009/2007CS0033-000561-Attachment1.htm
http://www.civicinfo.bc.ca/302n.asp?newsid=2176
VICTORIA – The Province is returning $58.8 million in traffic fine revenues to British Columbia municipalities, as part of government's ongoing commitment to enhance policing and public safety, Community Services Minister Ida Chong announced. "This year, we are returning the most ever under the Traffic Fine Revenue Sharing program to municipalities. Whether it is for more officers on the street, more crime prevention programs or better strategies to combat drugs and vandalism, this funding makes a difference in the lives of British Columbians," said Chong. "Through municipal accountability reports that communities submit to government, taxpayers are seeing how their municipalities are investing these significant funds to make their communities safer. We look forward to receiving these reports once again this year, providing local governments with an opportunity to showcase their innovative ideas and actions."
Since its expansion in 2004, when the Province began returning 100 per cent of traffic fine revenues, an additional $159.8 million has gone to municipalities for public safety, for a total of $199.8 million. This grant program is to assist those municipalities that pay local police enforcement costs. The provincial traffic fine revenue comes from ticket fines and court-imposed fines on violation tickets and the amount of money a municipality receives is based on its contribution to total municipal policing costs.

Coldstream 58,062
Kamloops 1,241,323
Kelowna 1,351,532
Revelstoke 81,474
Salmon Arm 146,308
Spallumcheen 22,217
Vancouver 14,111,589
Vernon $495,253
Whistler 246,228
Total 58,805,497
---------------------------
Don Quixote note:
Vernon budgeted a total of $394,740 for 2007. This would indicate another $100,000 surplus in 2007. Indications are that these funds will flow through and be accounted for in the RCMP reserve fund .

Nothing but the Facts.

After much budget deliberation the City Council had a budget that would increase the taxes on Residents and businesses of 2%

They agreed to help the businesses by lowering the tax ratio from 3.03 to 2.75.

$275,000 of this was charged to the residents causing the tax increase for the residential class to go up to 4.95%

The business class got a $411,700 tax break and end up with a 6.6% tax decrease.

City Council did not use the available operating surplus from 2006 of at least $469,400 for residential tax relief even though they had used $230,600 of the originally estimated surplus of $700,000 to finance this years OCP review.

The finance meeting last Thursday was postponed until this week and the actual operating surplus will probably be announced. If there is any substantial upward change in this surplus you will have one pissed off Don Quixote. Hopefully the media will catch on to this shell game and explain it their readers.

Residential Taxpayer Cheat Sheet.

I believe the 2007 tax notices will be mailed out shortly. The Council has given final reading to the tax bylaw and the Residential Class Rates and Business Tax rates are etched in stone.

The Council decided to lower the business tax ratio from 3.03 to 2.75 without resorting to using any of the 2006 operating surplus to help the Residential Taxpayer.

Consequently the original tax rate/1000 (not including fire) was increased from
2.26095 t0 2.32385 for the Residential Tax Class. This small difference is only .0629/1000 of assessment.

The following is a cheat sheet to illustrate the effect on various taxpayers in the Residential Class: (The property in red is the 'average' property:) This is an increase to taxes !

100,000	0.063	$6.29
200,000	0.063	$12.58
287,000	0.063	$18.05
300,000	0.063	$18.87
400,000	0.063	$25.16
442,000	0.063	$27.80
500,000	0.063	$31.45
1,000,000	0.063	$62.90

This portion of your tax increase represents the $275,000 that was charged to the residential tax class and credited to the business tax class.
-------------------------------------
Business Taxpayer Cheat Sheet.
The original tax rate/1000 (not including fire) was decreased from 6.86074 t0 6.4003 For the Business Class. This difference is .4604/1000 of assessment.

The following is a cheat sheet to illustrate the effect on various taxpayers in the Business Class: (The property in red is the 'average' property:) (The 3 million property is a big bank.)

Assessment	tax saving	Amount Saved
100,000	0.4604	$46.04
200,000	0.4604	$92.08
287,000	0.4604	$132.13
300,000	0.4604	$138.12
400,000	0.4604	$184.16
442,000	0.4604	$203.50
500,000	0.4604	$230.20
570,000	0.4604	$262.43
1,000,000	0.4604	$460.40
3,000,000	0.4604	$1,381.20