How Glanbrook's growth is helping everyone's tax bill

The old city of Hamilton gets most of the attention. The hot housing market, the condos, the U.S Steel lands, waterfront potential.

But for yet another year, Hamilton's most impressivetax assessment growth rates came from a much less frequently noticedplace Glanbrook.

The whole city's assessment grew by 1.6 per cent in 2015, meaning $13.1 million in new taxes fromhomes, businesses and industry. ButGlanbrookled the way in nearly every category, and in doing so,eased the weight on property taxpayers acrossthe entire city.

(Assessment is overall value of property in the city. If it goes up, it means the taxes collected come from a larger pool of properties and value, meaning a lesserburden on each individual property.)

Other city representatives will point toindustrial andbusinessgrowth in their areas, said Brenda Johnson, city councillor for Ward 11. But in reality, none of them are growing quite like Glanbrook.

I ask myself that every day.- Coun. Brenda Johnson about whether Glanbrook gets enough attention from the city

"This is the fastest growing area of the city," she said.

And a new report from the city shows that everyone is benefiting.

Thanks toGlanbrook'sexpanse of available land and developers eager to build on it, its residential assessment increased by 8.3 per cent, bringing in $2,688,900 more in taxes forHamilton.

That's compared to the city's overall residential assessment growth of 1.3 per cent. The next closest area of the cityfor residential growth wasFlamboroughat 2.8 per cent.

In 2015,Glanbrookalsoenjoyed the highest rateof industrial tax growth. Its assessment increased by 5.2 per cent compared to 3.1 per cent in the old city of Hamilton (although Hamilton's actual dollar figure for growth is much higher because of the larger scale its compared to).

When it comes to multi-residential growth, the report says, Glanbrookalsoled the way, this time with a 4.3 per cent increase in assessment. Every other area of Hamilton saw no increase at all.

• 2015:Homeowners still carrying Hamilton's biggest tax burden

Glanbrook saw 4.7 per cent in commercial tax assessment growth last year compared to 1.2 per cent in old Hamilton. It was second only to Ancaster.

Tax assessment is important to everyone. When an area such as Glanbrook generates more taxes, "it benefits homeowners across the city," said finance head Mike Zegarac.

Glanbrook is doing its part.- Coun. Brenda Johnson

The commercial and industrial numbers are key too. On balance, the city benefits more from taxing businesses than homeowners. So Hamilton's increase in industrial (0.1per cent) and commercial (0.3 per cent) assessment growth over 2014 is as critical as its 1.3 per cent increase in the residential sector. And Glanbrook made important contributions to that.

With that in mind, does the city pay enough attention to Glanbrook?

"I ask myself that every day," Johnson said.

Everyone used to know their neighbours

When it comes to city services,Glanbrookis still treated like a suburb. The Mount Hope library has limited hours. There's a part-time fire service, Johnson said, and that's all Glanbrookneeds for now. Glanbrook taxpayersalso don't pay for transit because of area rating.

But with the assessment growth, combined with ever-increasing tax bills, "Glanbrookis doing its part" in paying for city services, Johnson said.

What happened then, we can't do a damn thing about it.- Larry Smith, Binbrook resident, on amalgamation

Much of Glanbrook's growth has been in Binbrook, a geographically remotevillage that requires infrastructure upgrades to accommodate the growing population. Zegarac saysdevelopment charges a fee developers pay to service the new residential areas they're creating partially pay for that.

All this growth comes as no surprise to Larry Smith, who has lived in the same Binbrook farmhouse at Nebo and White Church Roads for 75 years. He's also owned O'Neil's Farm Equipment since 1971. His taxes have increased nearly 10 per cent over last year.

Smith remembers a time when traffic wassparse, everyone knew their neighbours and every farm from Mount Hope to Binbrook had cattle. In the last five years, he said, development hassprung up everywhere.

How much taxes will increase on the average home

Smith believes Glanbrook is more than pulling its weight. Hewas never a fan of Hamilton's amalgamationin 2000. He doesn't necessarily buy that it's worked for Glanbrook.

But "I'm progressive. We've got to move on," he said. "What happened then, we can't do a damn thing about it."

Here are some other noteworthy highlights from the report, which councillors will discuss at a meeting on Tuesday:

• ArcelorMittal Dofasco is paying $4.3 million because of a new galvanizing line.
• The retail giant Target pulled out of Canada last year. That resulted in more than $10 million in assessment loss in Hamilton.
• Ward 11 (Glanbrook) saw the highest amount of assessment growth, followed by Ward 9 (upper Stoney Creek), Ward 15 (Flamborough) and Ward 12 (Ancaster).

As it stands, city council's operating budget is poised to increase 1.2 per cent, or $46 per year on the average $294,000 home.

Council is also pondering a raft of additional budget items that could lead to a 1.9 per cent increase, or $70 on the average home.But city councillors will meet several more times to try to trim that number.

samantha.craggs@cbc.ca | @SamCraggsCBC