CambridgeToday received the following Letter to the Editor from John B. Waylett, Chair & CEO of Property Taxpayers Alliance in response to the article "Cambridge mayor cleared over claim she misled residents with tax hike remark" posted on CambridgeToday September 3, 2024.
The mayor and city staff may have done so inadvertently, but their statement that Cambridge's 2024 residential property tax increase of 7.17 per cent was less than inflation because it represented a 2.58 per cent increase to the total tax bill, when inflation was running at 3.4 per cent, was misleading and incorrect.
And even the 2.58 per cent increase to the tax bill was no achievement.
Cambridge’s 2024 7.17 per cent residential property tax increase was 2.11 times inflation.
But measuring the impact of the tax increase on the total bill, without considering the impact entitlement of the region and the school board, is really meaningless. The region and school board contributions must be taken into consideration too.
What if they each claimed the impacts of their property tax increases on the total tax bill were also 2.58 per cent and therefore less than inflation? Does this mean the tax bill goes up by less than inflation? Absolutely not. The tax bill will rise by 7.74 per cent, which is 2.28 times the 3.4 per cent inflation.
So, which one caused the tax bill to rise above inflation? They all did obviously, including Cambridge!
To make a legitimate claim about the 7.17 per cent impact on the tax bill, the mayor must do so relativistically, as it is just one of three contributors.
Cambridge's share of the total bill has been about 36 per cent and so it is entitled to 1.22 per cent of the 3.4 per cent increase.
The region's share has been about 52 per cent and so it is entitled to 1.77 per cent of the 3.4 per cent increase.
The school board's share has been about 12 per cent and so it is entitled to 0.41 per cent of the 3.4 per cent increase.
This means Cambridge’s 2.58 per cent tax bill increase was 2.11 times its 1.22 per cent entitlement.
The 2.58 per cent left a fraction of one per cent of the total increase for the region and school board to share when they were actually entitled to 2.18 per cent.
And lets not be fooled by all the total tax bill talk.
Cambridge property taxpayers should be measuring their city’s year-over-year operational performance in delivering services to them based on the 7.17 per cent tax increase, which represents the amount by which the cost of delivering those services rose over the prior year.
They should not be measuring the city’s operational performance by the impact the 7.17 per cent on the shared tax bill.
John B. Waylett
Chair & CEO
Property Taxpayers Alliance
