Why aren't Hamilton's industrial parks growing?

Hamilton has ninecity-owned industrial parks that local taxpayers pay to service and ready for new industry. But severalcity councillorswant to figure out whymore industriesaren't choosingthem.

A new report shows that the bulk of Hamilton's assessment growth areas generating the highest rate of new tax dollars islargelypooled around residential areas in the suburbs. That's less desirable than industrial and commercial growth, which eases the tax burden onHamilton homeowners.

It's intense residential growth on the fringes and not the industrial growth we pay a lot to service.- Chad Collins,Ward 5councillor

Chad Collins,Ward 5 councillor, wonderswhy moregrowth isn't happening around thebusiness parks designed for that very purpose to draw more industrial and commercial tax dollars. And he wants the city to work on solving it.

"When I look at that map, it's all residential," said Collins, referring to a heat map showing tax assessment growth, at a budget meeting on Tuesday. "It's intense residential growth on the fringes and not the industrial growth we pay a lot to service."

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For Hamilton, it's an important question. On balance, the city benefits more from taxing industries and business than it does from homes. And while the industrial and business tax assessment has grown slightly,councillorssay it's still not enough. In 2015, 88 per cent of Hamilton's assessment growth was residential.

The question matters to Hamilton homeowners too. Assessment is the overall value of property in the city. If it goes up which it did in 2015by 1.6 per cent thentaxes collected come from a larger pool of properties and value. That meansless burdenon each individual property.

The city will look at how to draw more industry, including what incentives it could use. Sam Merulla, Ward 4 councillor, suggested the city conduct "exit interviews" of industries who looked at Hamilton and decided to locate elsewhere.

But there are challenges. For one thing, Hamilton's city-owned business parks are nearly full, said Jason Thorne, general manager of planning and economic development.

The airport employment growth district (AEGD), a hotly contested555-hectare urban boundary expansion that happened so the city could offer green space to industries, will help. But at Tuesday's budget meeting, city officials couldn't say exactly when that land will be ready.

From 2011 to 2013, Zegarac said, Hamilton saw no increase in assessment. For two years now, assessment in Hamilton has increased. The 2015 increase has resulted in$13.1 million in new tax dollars.