Tax Rate Modernization

Consultation has concluded

On May 27, 2019 Council approved a recommendation to allocate $100,000 of the Provincial Efficiency Grant towards the Tax System Modernization project. The purpose of the Tax System Modernization project is to implement a new tax system and consolidate the existing 3000 municipal tax rates, creating efficiencies in the administration of property taxes.


The Municipality of Chatham-Kent currently maintains 3000 tax rates each year including 14 different area charges. The excessive number of tax rates are a carryover of rates from pre-amalgamation. During the transitional time of amalgamation, the preference was to keep information consistent as much as possible for property owners. The annual calculation of the municipal tax rates is cumbersome and complicated.


Area rating is intended to account for either significant differences in service levels or costs of providing services to various areas of the Municipality. Generally, in the absence of area rating, similarly assessed properties would pay the same level of property taxes Municipality wide. Conversely, with area rating, similarly assessed properties pay different levels of property taxes depending on the level of service provided in their specific area.


Tax Rate Modernization

Tax rates are comprised of the base levy, education support, and area rated services. Annually, these rates are recalculated to adjust for changes in the budget; this process is complicated and inefficient. Reducing the number of area rated services and deviating from the pre-amalgamation approach to taxation provides the framework for better decision making in the future, and drastically increases transparency through a simplified taxation methodology.

The first phase of modernizing our tax rates would be a reduction in the number of services we area rate. The multitude of area rated charges reduces the ability of tax payers to understand the fees that relate to their property, reducing these rates and simplifying the property taxation process will increase both efficiency and transparency

We are proposing the full elimination of area rating for policing, streetlights, and horticulture. This is the first step in streamlining our municipal tax rates enabling us to begin combining communities into tiered urban and rural tax model.

On May 27, 2019 Council approved a recommendation to allocate $100,000 of the Provincial Efficiency Grant towards the Tax System Modernization project. The purpose of the Tax System Modernization project is to implement a new tax system and consolidate the existing 3000 municipal tax rates, creating efficiencies in the administration of property taxes.


The Municipality of Chatham-Kent currently maintains 3000 tax rates each year including 14 different area charges. The excessive number of tax rates are a carryover of rates from pre-amalgamation. During the transitional time of amalgamation, the preference was to keep information consistent as much as possible for property owners. The annual calculation of the municipal tax rates is cumbersome and complicated.


Area rating is intended to account for either significant differences in service levels or costs of providing services to various areas of the Municipality. Generally, in the absence of area rating, similarly assessed properties would pay the same level of property taxes Municipality wide. Conversely, with area rating, similarly assessed properties pay different levels of property taxes depending on the level of service provided in their specific area.


Tax Rate Modernization

Tax rates are comprised of the base levy, education support, and area rated services. Annually, these rates are recalculated to adjust for changes in the budget; this process is complicated and inefficient. Reducing the number of area rated services and deviating from the pre-amalgamation approach to taxation provides the framework for better decision making in the future, and drastically increases transparency through a simplified taxation methodology.

The first phase of modernizing our tax rates would be a reduction in the number of services we area rate. The multitude of area rated charges reduces the ability of tax payers to understand the fees that relate to their property, reducing these rates and simplifying the property taxation process will increase both efficiency and transparency

We are proposing the full elimination of area rating for policing, streetlights, and horticulture. This is the first step in streamlining our municipal tax rates enabling us to begin combining communities into tiered urban and rural tax model.