If city council accepts the 2012 proposed budget at Monday's meeting, most taxpayers will experience a either a small raise of around $100 or no increase in their taxes.
Overall, if the budget were to be passed, residents would see a reduction of 2.58 percent in the tax rate and an increase of 3.7 percent in taxes paid - working out to an average tax raise of about $89.
The budget would see the average tax payer dole out $2,497 in taxes for the average home compared to $2,406 in 2011.
The city's package on the budget - compiled by Bill Freiburger (Commissioner of Finance and Treasurer) and the finance department - states that 49.9 percent of taxpayers will see a tax increase of under $100, 35.3 percent will see their taxes increase between $100 to $200 and 6 percent will see a reduction in taxes.
"Realistically, you can say that almost 90 percent of residential properties will either have an increase of up to $200 in the max case or even a decrease in some cases," said Scott McLellan, Manager of Budgets and Revenue.
Currently, the average household in Sault Ste. Marie is assessed at $132,000 and the 2012 tax rate will be 0.01894331 percent; which is down from 0.01942484 percent in 2011.
People can figure out their taxes by multiplying their home assessment by the above tax rate.
The staff's report on the budget says property assessments have seen the value of local houses raise by 8 percent.
Also included in the package is a report on the budget from CAO Joe Fratesi, who compares the municipal taxes paid by Saultites to others throughout the north.
Using statistics from the BMA Group, the average home municipal taxes in 2011 for the Sault were $2,528 - the lowest in Northern Ontario.
Sudbury was second at $2,656, Timmins at $2,959, Thunder Bay at $3,096 and North Bay at $3,207.
Fratesi said the BMA group provides data on property taxes across the province and they base their study on 1200 sq. foot, three bedroom, single storey home on a lot of approx. 5,500 sq. feet.
"We're the lowest among cities our size throughout the province," said Fratesi. "BMA's approach is the fairest because they actually go out into the community and find a real life example of a home to base their estimations off of."
On Monday, council will also find out the 2011 surplus was $2,174,205.
City staff is recommending $1.5 million be spent in order to complete a financial commitment made to Algoma University and Sault College.
They also suggest $500,000 be used towards reducing the tax levy and the remaining money is recommended to be allocated for one new para bus and the refurbishment of an existing city bus.
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