Thanks to the persistence of Coun. Gary Clarke, ratepayers will get a bit of a break on next year’s municipal property tax levy.
City council began 2023 budget deliberations Monday evening looking at a 2.87 per cent hike in the levy. Clarke argued the increase should be held to this year’s 2.35 per cent increase, which would trim about $300,000 from the $65 million budget.
Clarke had the support of councillors Steve Peters and Jeff Kohler in pushing for a hold on any further increase in the levy.
The $24.3 million capital portion of the budget was approved as is, so any savings would have to come from the operating budget.
An initial motion to proceed with the proposed 2.87 per cent increase was defeated. Only Mayor Joe Preston and councillors Steve Wookey and Tara McCaulley were in support.
After considerable debate, council voted in favour of Clarke’s motion to hold the property tax levy increase to this year’s 2.3 per cent.
The proposed budget would result in an $86 increase in the property tax next year based on the average assessed value of a home in the city.
With the lowering of the tax levy the increase will now be $71, according to Dan Sheridan, the city’s director of finance.
What was not established was how the $300,000 cut to the budget can be accommodated without cutting services.
It could come from dipping into a reserve account and replenishing it over time, exploring revenue streams such as user fees at city facilities or asking department heads to look for savings in their budgets.
City manager Sandra Datars Bere will report back to council with options.
