'Basically a net zero' tax increase proposed in LaSalle

The Town of LaSalle is expecting to spend $2,605,000 more in 2019, but homeowners won't have to worry about property taxes going up.

At this time, the town is estimating there will be a 0.02 per cent change in total property taxes, which will come out to an increase of $0.30 for every $100,000 of a residential assessment.

The estimated increase is only seen in the county rate, which will be decided by Essex County council. The municipal rate is staying exactly the same. And the education rate is estimated to fall by 4 per cent.

"When you factor all those in, it's basically a net zero," said Dale Langlois, treasurer of the town.

Even with the small change, homeowners may still pay more in general, if the property assessment deems the value of the home has gone up.

According to Langlois, those increases in total tax payments are expected to cover half of the municipal general levy increase. The other half will be covered by home developments happening around town.

The town is also estimating an increase in garbage collection and disposal budgets to account for the growth

Even though last year the town spent less than what they budgeted, officials increased the budget anyway to account for more people moving into town.

"The more residences that are built, there's going to be more garbage," said Langlois. "We estimate as close as we can for our expenses, we don't want to over-inflate."

He said at the end of this calendar year, the town might go a bit over budget because of the growth, which has been factored into the 2019 draft budget.

Council will be meeting to discuss the budget on Jan. 10 and Jan. 11.