Bruce County Council will be holding a meeting in September regarding development charges.
According to the county’s Director of Corporate Services and Treasurer Edward Henley, the main purpose of charging development charges for new builds is to recover the capital costs of both residential and non-residential growth within a municipality.
Those capital costs for the municipality may include the cost to put in new sidewalks or traffic signals around a new neighbourhood development.
If the county starts collecting development charges, those expansion costs mitigate the need to raise property taxes.
“It would help reduce the need to raise taxes to cover the costs, and provide an alternate revenue source,” Henley says.
He also says that the implementation of development charges would not affect current home or commercial property owners, but would apply to eligible new construction.
The proposed fees would be roughly $7,655 for a house.
For non-residential properties, the proposed fee is $1.65 per square foot for industrial, to $5.33 per square foot for non-industrial, for a blended fee of $2.94 per square foot.
Previously, the county did not charge development fees.
Henley also says that due to legislation, and the passing of Bill 23, the More Homes Built Faster Act, any development charges collected can no longer go toward the construction of affordable housing.
“Until 2022, development charges could support the building of new, affordable housing. Bill 23 was passed by the province in 2022, [the] Bill removed the ability for municipalities to collect funds to build affordable housing.”
The meeting is meant to get input from the public, pursuant to the Development Charges Act.
The meeting will be held on September 7th at 9:30, and anyone interested can participate either virtually by contacting the county clerk at clerk@brucecounty.on.ca or by attending in person at the Council Chambers at the Walkerton Administration Centre.
More information can be found at www.brucecounty.on.ca/development-charges.