Paradise holds the line on taxes, despite higher costs
By Chad Feehan
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
December 8, 2023 Edition
While residential and commercial mil rates in Paradise will stay the same in 2024, residents will still see a slight bump in taxes next year.
Due to the increase in property assessments, homeowners will pay an additional $135 in taxes on average.
The Town is keeping mil rates the same, rather than lowering them to offset the change in order to maintain the “necessary revenue to operate the town,” said councillor Patrick Martin, who presented the budget on behalf of councillor and finance committee chairperson Elizabeth Laurie, who was home recovering from a medical procedure.
Deputy Mayor Kimberly Street noted the Town Hall, like its residents, has been impacted by inflation.
“The cost to do business in 2023 increased dramatically and continues to remain high,” said Street. “By now there’s no one who hasn’t been affected by inflation… Everyone is making hard decisions with their budgets.”
All told, spending is projected to increase 2.9 per cent in 2024 over this year’s budget, totaling some $41,880,716.
Council is expecting to cover it all with $36.3 million in property and business taxes, 1.1 million in grants from other levels of government, $1 million from the sale of goods and services such as ice rentals and gym use fees, $1.7 million from its own sources including the sale of licenses and permits, and by drawing upon some $1.8 million from its reserves.
The Town is projecting a 29 per cent increase in debt servicing charges and a 9.1 per cent jump in the cost of providing protective services. It is offsetting some of that with a 10.3 per cent cut to capital upgrades and a 13 per cent drop in the money set aside for the infrastructure replacement reserve.
A seniors discount will massage financial burdens for residents aged 60 or older who both own and live in their homes, and a needs-based discount will be offered to those least able to weather higher property taxes because of increasing property values.
As work continues on the replacement of Lift Station No. 10, the Town will take out a $12 million loan to cover part of its $19.6 million portion of the replacement cost. Martin noted this will be the first loan the Town has taken out since the construction of the Paradise Double Ice Complex over a decade ago.
Councillor Glen Carew pointed out that while there are many amenity and infrastructure improvement projects in the 2024 budget, the cost of Lift Station No. 10 is causing council to scale back or shelve some projects.
“The financial gravity of Lift Station No. 10 has finally been realized in this budget,” Carew said.
One improvement in the new year will involve public transit to and from Paradise. Route 30 will soon start its morning run at 6:30 a.m., with an extra evening run to the Avalon Mall. Saturday service will also start at 9 a.m. The Town pays the St. John’s Transportation Commission to offer the Metrobus service in Paradise.
In another transit- related announcement, the Town will work with the Province on an analysis of traffic-flow in the community. Acknowledging the frustrations shared by both residents and Town staff alike, the goals of the study are to identify how improvements to existing and new infrastructure might improve traffic on Town roads and Provincial highways.
Green spaces will also get some prioritization in 2024. Similar to its work at Woodstock Gardens, the Town will start planning for an open space at Fairview Estates. And spending on an accessible trail in the new Emerald Ridge subdivision will start in the new year, connecting Trenton Drive to Octagon Pond Elementary.