Since residential taxes will be going up in the rural northwestern Ontario community of Oliver Paipoonge this year, the municipality has hired a consultant to help lure more companies to the town and share the tax load.
Pullia Accounting and Consulting has been hired to develop an economic plan for the community, located west of Thunder Bay. An offical with the town says the municipality and FedNor will split the cost of the project, pegged at just under $40,000.
The municipality lost $39,000 in property tax revenue this year because of property tax reassessments and a freeze on commercial property taxes. Residential taxes will go up at least 1.8 per cent this year to cover the shortfall.
Because commercial taxes aren't rising - and they remain lower than Thunder Bay's - the municipality is hoping more companies will look at being located in Oliver Paipoonge. The rural area is home to a lumber mill, restaurants, dairy farms and numerous tourist spots in Kakabeka Falls.