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THE OSHAWA TIMES, Seturdey, November 20, 1958 15 A REPORT TO THE PEOPLE OF THE CITY OF OSHAWA! The Prime Concern of Taxpayers...is the Amount of Taxes They Must Pay for City Services Each Year! wa 4 a i i A ie cam AVR A SC So NA AO - eRe by the mill rate. With the city expanding so rapidly through the construction of new subdivi- sions, additional services and schools are required with the result that the increased residential assessment is not sufficient to provide for the added costs. The total assessment is olmost equally divided between residential and commercial and industrial. The bulk of the debenture debt has accumulated since 1949 so that issues will not mature in any large amounts until 1964, (fifteen year term) thus annual payments for principal and interest on these issues will 'cease and offset the charges being made for new issues. From this date, issues will be retired an- nually and provide some relief in taxation. From the foregoing it may be seen that the prospects of reduced taxation are rather distant. The operations for 1958 have been reviewed and pre- sent indications are that final results will be closed to a balanced budget. Conditions arise throughout the year that require moneys to be spent for which no provision had been made. These have been provided by revenue received from the supplementary tax roll. The prime concern of taxpayers is the amount of taxes they must pay for city services each year. Before this amount is approved, estimates for the year are considered by Council and ot that time it is decided what amount will be spent for services directly under the jurisdiction of City Council. The scope for making reductions or adjustments is very limited as the Council only controls approximately twenty-five per cent of the total budget, the remainder being re- quirements of other boards outside the authority of Council such as the Board of Education and expenditures required by statutes. The amount required by the Board of Education is ap- proximately forty per cent of the total estimates. From this it may be seen that the ability of Council to make large reductions in estimates submitted each year is very restricted. However, if the taxpayer, especially those with children attending school carefully considers the services that he is receiving for his tax dollar it is still the best value in the markets today. The Oshawa Public Utilities Commission is self supporting and does not receive any revenue from taxation Below are the figures for the Corporation of the City of Oshawa Taxation and Tax Rate Distribution for 1958! THE CORPORATION OF THE CITY OF OSHAWA TAXATION AND TAX RATE DISTRIBUTION -- 1958 c iol ond Ind AUTHORIZED BY BY-LAW No. 3470 Estimated Cost Rate in Mills ommercicl and Indunvie $9:8 wits Residential and Farm Lands 64.5 mills Separate Schools Maintenance ......ccocvevvees Caan BsERs ess R eres ; $ 65127.9 11.3057119 Separate Schools Debentures 36,300.00 6.3014053 Combined Separate School Rate same as Bs np ------ Combined Public School Rate . ............ teva 17.6071172 mills Public Schools Maintenance . ....ccocoeeessness setesvsce ssn 1,029,246.23 14.1517918 Public School Debentures 251,302.50 : Further reduction applicable to Farm Lands assessed in blocks Soliogiere and Vocational Nointenance 10.561. . of not less than five acres and used as Farm Lands only, es Unemployment Relief, including Administration . ....... MRE a 58,969.00 . specified in By-Law No. 3463. } 'other thon Direct Relief . . : Fire Rate ...... PPE LOE RIE 7 3.22 mills i HI IA EAE ER EERE EER LEE EE EEN A ' y Garbage LAE FI, 2.21 mills unicipal , 1088 Sundry REVENUS «2s cvansssisioasins vei J 2,684,102.06 PIP OR SIE LD CRA, S08 : : ED ie an 1 a ---- SY Street Lighting ......... AEA sa i} $5,435 501.43 69.5 MILLS DLL Er + § 1.07 mills 5. MILLS T $5,253,559.43 is i rE 6.50 mills Less Unconditional Grant from Province . c.ooevesecossroassnces 64.5 MILLS . Net rate for Farm Lands ............. ees. 58. mills This is a general statement as the presentation of figures in support is somewhat lengthy. Probably the most significant operations during 1958 are the construction of the bridge over the C.N.R. on Ritson Road South, the completion of the Louisa Street pavement, the purchase of property to straighten Church and Centre Streets, and the improvement of the parking lot on Athol Street West, which are all moves to improve the traffic problem. These operations are taking place under the eye of public at large and show what the Coun- cil is doing to improve condi- The Province of Ontario Reduces the 1958 Levy Against the Ratepayers of the City of Oshawa by Contributing the Following Amounts : PROVINCIAL PAYMENTS MILLS Education Grants ruraxamsmozs. oncxx:. $ 758,667.91 10.14 Highway Grants (OO OO 0 CRO (0 C0 Ory OO he O) 176,600.00 2.25 Welfare Grants -- 137,054.88 1.74 Unconditional Grants: Contributions to assist in the costs of, (a) The Administration of Justice ...... 51,000.00 (b) Welfara Social Services, Indigent and Unemployment Relief, Hospitalization and Institutional Care and other Service ............. 151,008.00 Other Grants .. eT eZ TOIT TOTS THT TET TX TVIVIST 13,359.58 TOTAL PROVINCIAL ASSISTANCE .. $1,287,690.37 Education Levy .......c.oiiciuic $1,975914.53 tions. There are many activities Municipal Levy i is :$3,479,652.90 being quietly carried out for the = benefit of the taxpayers. Pe all represents the ameum actually Avisd on the ratepayers ALL GRANTS AND SUN- DRY REVENUE have been deducted! J The adoption of a five-year capital expenditure programme has been extremely beneficial in the sale of debentures. Prospective purchasers are now shown the pro- posed expenditures and to what extent our tax rate will be affected and are thus able to assess our ability to repay our borrowings as they become due. Several muni- cipalities, some with better credit rating than Oshawa, are now offering dcbentur- LYMAN A. GIFFORD, Mayor OF THE CITY OF OSHAWA ers for sale, which were withheld pending the operations of the Federal and Provin- cial governments in the investment market. We are fortunate that our borrowing by debenture issues for 1958 has been completed and that we do not have to meet the additional competition for the amount of money available for investment. HAROLD E. TRIPP, Treasurer OF THE CITY OF OSHAWA