Uxbridge approves annual budget with 5.77 percent increase

DARRYL KNIGHT The Standard

UXBRIDGE: Local councillors have wrapped up weeks of deliberations, surrounding the 2024 municipal budget, with an increase of 5.77 percent over last year.

While taxes are increasing, the rate is slightly lower than the 5.97 percent jump which took place last year. This year’s increase does include 2.03 percent in additional funding for the Township’s Asset Preservation Reserve.

“We went through this in great detail,” commented, Ward 4 Councillor and Deputy Mayor, Willie Popp. He noted, the township has identified several key areas of focus for the operating and capital budgets, including: recruiting, retention and succession planning; downtown revitalization and beautification; and increased emergency preparation, in the wake of the tornado which swept through the town in May of 2022.

The average increase for township residents, on the municipal portion of their property tax bill, is slated to be around $109, with increases from the Region of Durham and local School Boards still to be finalized.

“If we estimate what our increase looks like, it’s somewhere around $109 on our portion of the tax bill,” explained Councillor Popp. “The Region, if it comes in on the percentage they think, it’s going to be around (an extra) $290, and I think education is staying flat.”

Councillor Popp praised the work of township staff and his council counterparts in their work on the budget, noting, the increase puts Uxbridge near the middle of the pack in Durham, in terms of the property tax increase scheduled for this year.