Weyburn city council will consider a proposal to introduce a base tax on all city properties to pay for core services as a way to more fairly distribute the property tax burden amongst all property owners.

Coun. Rob Stephanson introduced a notice of motion, that he will bring up at the next council meeting on Jan. 26, to phase in a base tax to cover such core services as police and fire services and street maintenance, like snow removal and paving. The proposal was discussed by the new council extensively at their council retreat.

His motion will suggest phasing the base tax in over a period of eight years, so taxpayers will gradually see it become part of the overall property tax bill. Starting at $50, the goal is to eventually reach a base tax level of $400 by increasing it by increments of $50 a year.

"What this proposal would do is, here are some essential services which cost so much per household to deliver; instead of someone with higher-assessed properties paying 60 per cent of that, everybody's going to pay the same amount. It comes out of the assessed portion of the taxes," explained Coun. Stephanson in an interview on Tuesday.

"To me the bottom line is fairness. If we look at any year's tax increase, it doesn't make sense why some property owners pay more than others do, when they all get the same service," he added, noting one issue this base tax won't address are those properties which are tax-exempt, as they will retain that status.

The base tax wouldn't replace all of the property tax, but will at least cover the city's essential services, and the new tax bill will go down for some people and up for others.

A number of communities in the province have already gone to a base tax formula, including North Battleford (base tax: $395); Melfort ($386); Yorkton ($550, plus $105 for a new long-term care facility); Melville ($425) and Swift Current ($300). The tax in these communities was not phased in as is being proposed for Weyburn, said city manager Bob Smith.

Giving as an example a property worth $43,000, which has a taxable assessment of $30,000, the impact would be as follows: starting with the $400 base tax, the remainder of the municipal tax would $240 for a total of $640; this is added to the school portion of $548, for a total of $1,188, an increase of about $169.

For a $100,000 home with a taxable assessment of $70,000, the $400 base tax would have $560 in municipal tax added for a total of $960 municipal taxes, down from the $1,100 the home owner would have paid normally. The school taxes of about $1,826 would be unchanged, as the base tax cannot be applied to that portion of the tax bill.

The base tax would also apply to the commercial sector, which will continue to have the 1.6 mill rate factor, said Stephanson. On a city-wide basis, he estimates the tax bills will go down for 1,550 properties, and will increase for 1,400 other properties.

"It's going to be open for debate at the next council meeting. To me, this would be a good starting point, the first step in what I hope will be many," he said.

In the mayor's New Year's address for 2004, Mayor Don Schlosser said 2003 was a banner year for Weyburn, with building permits exceeding $29 million for the first time ever.

He said the major projects that have been changing the commercial sector in Weyburn this year was the completion of Wal-Mart and the soon-to-open Canadian Tire store, both on Highway 39.

The city had infrastructure projects worth over $3 million this year, including twinning the sewer mains on Government Road, a storm sewer upgrade from Fourth St. to the Souris River, and the first phase of renovations to the Colosseum.

The mayor noted that council had also passed over 20 new bylaws, mostly due to the new Cities Act, as well as having four new police officers sworn in this year, replacing officers who either retired or took jobs elsewhere in the province.

Coming up in 2004, one of the major challenges for the city, Chamber of Commerce and Future Use Community will be to find a viable alternate use or tenant for the Souris Valley Extended Care Centre.

Also, property owners in the city may be aware that a property re-inspection took place in 2002; the changes arising from that reassessment will be implemented in 2004.

The mayor also said council will bring a new budget for 2004 with a 5.3 per cent increase, and noted, "We have one of the lowest municipal tax rates among the Prairie Cities, and we will continue to strive to keep a positive balance between service and property taxes."

Council gave approval to a version of the Weyburn Builds incentive grant program, which will increase the amount of tax home owners can be credited.

The new Weyburn Builds program will also reduce the requirement for local materials and labour from 85 per cent to 50 per cent.

Asked after the meeting for the reason behind this change, Mayor Schlosser said council felt if local contractors were all busy, homeowners may need to go out-of-town to find a contractor willing to come here, or may need to find suitable materials in a store outside of Weyburn.

The grant amount will also change for eligible home-owners. Previously, the city gave a credit of 75 per cent of the total property tax in the first year, reducing it to 50 per cent in the second year and to 25 per cent in the third year.

As of 2004, the property tax will be rebated by 75 per cent for each of the three years following the completion of the work. This will apply to those qualifying new homes which are built in the infill area of the city.

The year 2003 saw the highest-ever level of building permits for the City of Weyburn, reaching a total of just over $29 million.

As of Dec. 31, the city issued a total of 92 building permits worth $29.04 million, compared to the year before when 93 permits were issued, worth $4.61 million.

Broken down by category, 2003's permits included two civic projects worth $1.5 million; 19 commercial permits worth $8.2 million; one industrial permit worth $200,000; five institutional permits worth a total of $17.79 million; and 65 residential permits worth $1.35 million.

The civic permits were for the Colosseum renovations, and the bulk of the institutional permit, worth $17.66 million, was for the 135-bed Tatagwa View long-term care facility on the Souris Valley grounds.

Under the residential category, 40 permits were for additions or alterations, 20 were for new garages, three were for new homes, and two were for home repairs.