That slight mill rate decrease would be great, if your properties assessed value remained the same. Unfortunately the MPAC assessed value of your home has sky rocketed since 2009 rendering that slight mill rate decrease meaningless. Kitcheners mill rate should be in the 0.08 to 0.09 range based on the increases in MPAC assessed values.

As to the budgeting, municipalities have a very good idea each year as to how much new assessed value has been added by MPAC and they inflate budgets accordingly.