Despite challenges, no tax increase in Canton budget
A full year after one of the county’s largest employers — the Pactiv Evergreen paper mill, in downtown Canton — shut its doors, Canton’s governing board adopted a conservative budget for fiscal year 2024-25 that contains no property tax increase.
Canton’s property tax rate of 54 cents per $100 in assessed value remains the highest among all Haywood County municipalities, but the new budget ensures that the town will continue its streak of not raising the property tax rate since 2007.
The town did, however, increase water and sewer rates for both inside and outside customers, and instituted a $30 vehicle registration fee that will go a long way towards improving the condition of Canton’s roads.
To balance the budget, the town used a substantial chunk, $1.34 million, of a $4 million direct allocation from the General Assembly specifically appropriated to the town to plug budget holes attributable to Pactiv’s departure.
Pactiv was the most recent owner of the 115-year-old paper mill, until it closed in June 2023, throwing roughly a thousand employees out of work. Last month, a letter of intent to purchase the property was submitted by Spirtas Worldwide, a St. Louis-based demolition and development firm. Spirtas remains in the due diligence period, at the culmination of which it may or may not elect to purchase the property, or parts of it.
— Cory Vaillancourt, politics editor
