Viewing Our Land Productivity

Poster was part of 'What We Know' display, held on March 1, 2017 at the Quebec Street Mall in Downtown Guelph. At 'What We Know,' the Community Engaged Scholarship Institute brought together 50 posters featuring diverse research on Guelph and Wellington from community organizations, municipal staff, faculty and students. Topics included feral cats, farmland loss, food waste, the wellbeing of children and more - all specific to Guelph and Wellington. Guelph is growing differently. We are both adding new development on the periphery but also intensifying areas like downtown. This means we are generating property tax growth differently by using land more productively as well as adding new growth areas. Through our Geographic Information System, the City of Guelph can model 'tax density' (the value of taxes and assessments, equalized and divided by property areas) to provide a new way to look at how we raise revenue through property taxes.' Using data from 2013 and 2016, the City used land assessment updates from the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation to model change in the productivity of lands in the city. It shows that the most dense areas with mixed-use and urban land-use patterns have the highest ‘tax density. Downtown is leading the way in creating the most tax-dense lands. This insight helps to share municipal plans for infrastructure and public realm investment priorities.