Report to: General Committee Finance & Administrative Date of Meeting: June 12, 2006

SUBJECT: Development Charges Indexing July 1, 2006

PREPARED BY: Jennifer Nelson, extension 2640

RECOMMENDATION:

THAT the report titled “Development Charges Indexing July 1, 2006” be received;

AND THAT Council approve an increase in development charges of 2.78%, effective July 1, 2006.

1. Purpose 2. Background 3. Discussion 4. Financial 5. Environmental

6. Accessibility 7. Engage ^21st 8. Affected Units 9. Attachment(s)

PURPOSE:

The purpose of this report is to recommend the indexing of development charges, effective July 1, 2006, in accordance with the Statistics Canada Quarterly, Construction Price Statistic for non-residential buildings in Toronto.

BACKGROUND:

Section 15 of the Town’s Development Charge by-laws, enacted August 31, 2004, states that “the development charges referred to in Schedule “B” shall be adjusted semi-annually without amendment to this by-law, commencing on the first day of January and the first day of July, of each year commencing January 1, 2005, in accordance with the most recent change in the Statistics Canada Quarterly, Construction Price Statistics (Catalogue No. 62-007)”.

In accordance with the by-law it is recommended that the development charge be indexed 2.78%. This represents the increase in the Statistics Canada Quarterly, Construction Price Statistic for non-residential buildings in Toronto for the fourth quarter of 2005 to the first quarter of 2006. Below is a history of the indexes approved by Council since the by-laws were enacted.

Effective Date	Percentage Increase	Increase Based on Index Change Between
January 1, 2005	6.90%	Q1 to Q3, 2004
July 1, 2005	1.42%	Q4, 2004 to Q1, 2005
January 1, 2006	3.31%	Q2 to Q3, 2005
July 1, 2006	2.78%	Q4, 2005 to Q1, 2006
Total Increases - Compounded	15.18%

FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS

The Construction Price Index includes costs associated with the construction of industrial, commercial and institutional buildings which more closely aligns with the costs incurred by the Town of Markham for these services. Indexing the Town’s Development Charges on a semi-annual basis will partially mitigate the impact of inflationary increases on future growth-related costs.

RECOMMENDED

BY: ________________________ ________________________

Barb Cribbett, Treasurer Andy Taylor, Commissioner

Corporate Services

ATTACHMENTS:

Exhibit A – Town of Markham Recommended Development Charges for July 1, 2006