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LETTER: Maple Ridge tax increase doesn’t add up for resident

Much bigger tax bill than expected has letter writer concerned

Dear Editor,

Curious, might be a story, but, on April 27 you posted a story about council reducing property tax increases from 4.4 per cent to 3.6 per cent. Now that the actual taxes have been mailed out, our tax increase was 10.5 per cent for a 19 year old detached home in Albion that has had no improvements made in the neighborhood, other than a few additional houses. The most remarkable thing about our home is that we are still living here after13 years.

What happened to 3.6 per cent? The value of our home certainly didn’t rise disproportionately to other homes in the area. The city budget insert lists water and sewer as being 20 per cent of the budget. They make up 25.3 per cent of the property taxes. Why the discrepancy?

Are other people experiencing the same level of increase? We can’t be the only ones. To balance that out and come in at a 3.6 per cent net increase, some people have to be having a decrease in taxes. Who is experiencing that? Does the city have any information on the distribution of the changes made to net tax rates?

I have no idea if anyone else is complaining that the math simply does not add up, but with a municipal election coming in the fall, it might be a worthy story.

Brian Roeseler, Maple Ridge

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• READ MORE: Maple Ridge goes with 3.6 per cent tax boost

• READ MORE: Editorial on how property values impact tax rates

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