To date the ability for residents to fund municipal operations has not been a
consideration when setting the annual budget. As shown above, Owen
Sound 's residents are the poorest among the comparators. The median household
income for Cobourg, a municipality nearly identical to Owen Sound, is $69,500, while Owen Sound 's median household income of only
$57.600 is well below other municipalities. Median is the Middle value
separating the greater and lesser halves of a data set, i.e. half our population
is living on less than $57,600 per household. Although most of these households
are renters, landlords pass on their tax expense to their tenants in higher
rents.
Average Household Income
source:
BMA Municipal Studies
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| Property Taxes as a Percentage of Median After-Tax Household Income source: 2025 BMA Report |
In regard to resident 's ability to pay municipal taxes it is helpful to consider the percentage of after tax income a resident requires to pay their taxes. Figure 8 above shows that an Owen Sound resident must use 7.7% of their household income to cover municipal taxes. This is significantly more than other Bruce-Grey municipalities.
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| Median After-Tax, Household Income Comparison Source: Statistics Canada |
Now that we 've seen how Owen Sound 's household incomes compare to similarly sized municipalities in the study group I thought it would be informative to look at how Owen Sound household incomes compare with municipalities in Grey/Bruce Counties. As shown above Owen Sound 's median after-tax household income is much lower than the Grey/Bruce Counties average of $74,458.
What 's interesting in this chart is how Owen Sound compares to its closest neighbours, Meaford and Georgian Bluffs. As you can see our neighbours to the west in Georgian Bluffs are quite wealthy compared to us with a median after-tax household income of $83,000. Meaford with a household income of $70,500 is also doing quite well in comparison with Owen Sound, as is Chatsworth at $73,000. It seems like we are surrounded by relative wealthy neighbours. Perhaps we should ask all of them to help us out with the cost of the regional services we provide them such as the Harry Lumley Bayshore Community Center, the Julie Macarthur Recreation Center and the Tom Thomson Art Gallery.
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SUMMARY |
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1. Owen Sound residents are by far the poorest in the study group at 17.1% below the average. 2. Owen Sound residents spend 7.7% of their after-tax household income on property taxes. 3. If the ability to pay was considered Owen Sound 's Tax revenue would be $9.8 million less. 4. Owen Sound high taxes may be driving residents to nearby lower taxed municipalities. |
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