“It did have its challenges,” said Valérie Parisien, financial director for the United Counties of Prescott-Russell (UCPR) during a phone interview following the November 24 UCPR council session. 

Council approved final changes to the draft budget during its last session of November. The final UCPR budget for 2022 will be $154,012,600. The municipal levy portion, which represents property taxes, will be $51,421,100. This means a three-per-cent tax increase instead of the 3.56-per-cent increase projected in the original budget plan. 

For the average homeowner in the Prescott-Russell region with a house and land valued at about $274,000, this will mean a $34 increase on the UCPR portion of the property tax bill. Other sections of the bill will list municipal, school district, provincial and other property taxes owed. Each municipality is responsible for collecting all property taxes and disbursing them to the various government agencies. 

Property tax notices will go out in the mail next spring after the UCPR and municipalities all approve their 2022 property tax rates. 

Parisien noted that dealing with the various costs and problems related to the pandemic as one of the main factors that made the 2022 budget plan a challenge. But she added that UCPR staff had past experience with the 2021 budget planning process to help them deal with pandemic challenges.