Good Morning Markhamites,
Just one story for you today but it’s a big one about Mayor Scarpitti tabling the 2024 budget. Details are below.
Reminder: Friday is a P.A. day for both school boards, so plan accordingly.
Today’s read time is less than 3 minutes.
Mayor Tables 2024 Budget eyeing a 2.99% Property Tax increase.
That special council meeting on Monday sure turned out to be significant, with the Mayor soft-launching the 2024 budget. The biggest news is that the tax rate on the city portion of your municipal taxes will increase in 2024 by 2.99%. We are still below a 1% municipal tax rate at 0.68% rounded up. For the average home in Markham, this represents an increase of $39.98 toward the city portion. This increase is on top of the already announced regional increase of 3.75% or about $105 on average per household.
Key capital projects planned for this year include:
Widening Elgin Mills between Woodbine and Warden
City-wide asphalt resurfacing on roads
City-wide sidewalk improvement and construction
Main street Markham road reconstruction and sanitary sewer upgrade.
Flood controls for Markham Village (underway) and Don Mills Channel stormwater pond construction
Upgraded trails in green spaces across Markham
New parkettes for Cornell
Replacing firefighting equipment, including new high-rise firefighting tools.
Arena surface replacement at Markham Village (already underway) and Centennial Community Centre (planned)
Corporate fleet vehicle replacement ( Parks, Bylaw enforcement, City services)
The budget also includes $150M to support waterworks and wastewater treatment, including buying water from the city of Toronto through York Region. This appears to be where the overall property increase is being invested, with the city touting that the increase in rate accounts for about $35.26 per household.
The city invites everyone on February 15th for a public budget consultation before finalizing it later that month.
Here’s a link to the budget overview, and here’s a link to the detailed line items of capital projects planned this year.
The details can be found here for those looking to attend or contribute to the public budget consultation.
Community Notes
Record Number of indigenous hockey teams competing at this year’s Little NHL tournament in Markham
2023’s Markham Fair touted as a huge success
Here are 10 corporate Buzzwords the GTA can’t stand
The best lunch spots in Markham.
What’s happening in Markham this week?
Feb 1st
8:00 PM - Flato Markham Theatre - Circa: Humans 2.0 Tickets here
Feb 2nd
8:00 PM - Flato Markham Theatre - Canada’s Got Talent’s Jeanick Fournier Sings Celine - Tickets here
Feb 3rd
1-5 PM - Claw and Kitty + Markham Dog Alliance present: Lunar New Year Pawty. Admission is free!
3-5PM - Paint Nite at Milestones - Tickets here
8:00 PM Flato Markham Theatre - Kindred Spirits Orchestra - Around the World Tickets here
Feb 4th
1-5 PM - Claw and Kitty + Markham Dog Alliance present: Lunar New Year Pawty. Admission is free
1:30 PM - Centennial Community Centre - Aurora Tigers at Markham Royals - Tickets are just $15 at the door
2:00 - 4:00 - Paint your own Mandala Mug at Rouge River Brewery $35 includes a drink as well.
3:00 - 6:00 PM Speed Friending at The Cat’s Meow - Tickets here
Feb 6-10th
6:00 - 10:00 Jazzlicious - George St. Kitts at Rouge River Brewery. Tickets here
If you would like to submit your photos of Markham - feel free to follow and tag our Instagram page, and we’ll credit you!
If you’ve got a story pitch, send it to themarkhamite@Substack.com