The tax rate hike for Wasaga Beach taxpayers has been whittled down to just under three per cent.

Town councillors received an overview of the third draft of the municipal budget on Dec. 3. The municipality’s spending plans for 2021 include more than $42.9 million in operating costs and $53.9 million in capital expenditures.

All told, the municipality plans to collect more than $27.1 million from taxpayers in 2021.

Taking the county and education portions of the tax bill into account, the average-assessed residential property would see a tax rate increase of 1.69 per cent. For the average-assessed residence ($330,000), it would mean an additional $55 annually.

Director of finance Jocelyn Lee noted that Wasaga Beach’s tax rate would remain as one of the lowest among its comparator municipalities. Neighbouring Collingwood, for instance, has a tax rate of 0.7109 per cent, compared to Wasaga’s 0.5767 per cent.

Coun. David Foster emphasized that taxpayers would not be faced with a double-digit increase, as some in the community have suggested.

Anyone who is making that claim, said the councillor, “has their pants on fire, if you ask me.”

The public will have a chance to comment on the budget on Dec. 15. The budget is expected to come to council for ratification on Dec. 22.

Noting the draws on the town’s reserve and development charge accounts in 2021, Coun. Joe Belanger continued to raise concerns about any proposed hike to the town’s development charges.

Municipal officials anticipate drawing more than $36.3 million from reserve accounts in 2021 for capital projects. According to budget documents presented to council, the town will have $34.8 million left in savings at the end of 2021, down from $63.6 million at the end of 2020.

Meanwhile, development charges on a single-detached residence are expected to climb by more than 40 per cent, and the fee for non-residential development could jump by more than 220 per cent.

Communications officer Michael Gennings told Simcoe.com that municipal staff are reviewing options to phase in the charges, and a report will be presented to council later in December.

Belanger said the increase in contributions to the town’s development charge accounts could have a “significant impact” on the overall tax rate, and could discourage investment in the community.

“We’re a town with no furniture stores, car dealerships or cinema … and we’re going to put (non-residential) development charges well ahead of the Village at Blue and Collingwood,” he said. “We could be making some decisions that are going to encourage developers to develop somewhere other than Wasaga Beach.”

Chief administrative officer George Vadeboncoeur said the conversations that municipal staff have had with developers are that the pace of development is unlikely to abate, and, “in fact, it’s quite the opposite.”

“If anything, things have picked up, just because … this area generally is a very attractive area for people to move to, and we are seeing people coming to the area in droves,” he said.