SIOUX LOOKOUT – Property taxes in Sioux Lookout will rise by about four per cent under the municipality’s 2025 operating budget.
Mayor Doug Lawrance and councillors on Tuesday voted unanimous approval for a budget including a 4.44 per cent tax levy increase.
The increase means the owner of a home assessed at $200,000 will pay an extra $184, municipal treasurer Carly Collins told council.
Lawrance noted in an interview on Thursday that nearly three-quarters of the increase is for provincially mandated agencies and services such as the Kenora District Services Board, the Northwestern Health Unit and Ontario Provincial Police.
All of those agencies and services, which also include District of Kenora Homes and the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation, will get more from the municipality this year than in 2024.
Policing costs are going up 19 per cent, to $1.85 million from $1.55 million.
Strip away the combined levy increase for non-municipal agencies and the levy increase for municipal operating costs is about 1.3 per cent, Lawrance said.
Credit for the budget goes to Sioux Lookout staff and council, he said.
“I think it was a good process, to get the budget where it is.”
Next year’s levy increase could be significantly higher because “there are so many factors that are beyond our control,” Lawrance said.
But, he added, “we're happy to be where we are this year.”
