2011 Municipal Study - City of Brantford

Municipal Study 2011General Introductory CommentsThere are many reasons for differences in relative tax burdens across municipalities and acrossproperty classes. These include, but are not limited, to the following:The values of like properties vary significantly across municipalitiesThe tax burden within a municipality varies based on the tax ratios used. As such, it is possible fora municipality to have a relatively low tax burden in a particular class of property and a relativelyhigh tax burden in another classThe use of optional classesNon-uniform education tax rates in the non-residential classesThe level of service provided and the associated costs of providing these servicesExtent to which a municipality employs user feesAccess to other sources of revenues such as dividends from hydro utilities, gaming & casinorevenues, etc.Methodology and Presentation of Results“Like properties” were selected using the property descriptions outlined on the next two pages. Everyeffort was made to select a minimum of 3-8 properties from each municipality and from within eachproperty type.In some cases, a decision was made by the participating municipality to limit the number of propertytypes to be included in the study. As such, for some property types, less municipalities have beenincluded in the sample. In addition, there are some municipalities where like properties were notidentified. An average was used across the sample set within each municipality to calculate therelative tax burden. The results are presented using appropriate tax unit values such as per acre(vacant land), per unit (multi-residential, hotels and motels), per sq. ft. (office, industrial,neighbourhood shopping). The number of units, square footages, acres and current valueassessment was provided by MPAC.Comparison of Relative Taxes185