City looks inward to avoid major tax increase

By RICHARD ROLKE Morning Star Staff Dec 20 2006 http://www.vernonmorningstar.com/
Belt-tightening is in the works at Vernon city hall to avoid a major tax increase.The finance committee is recommending that each department look within its budgets to find cost-savings so the 2007 tax increase remains at 2.84 per cent and not the 6.81 per cent proposed by staff Monday. “It doesn’t hurt for people to look for every efficiency they can,” said Coun. Juliette Cunningham. “We need to go back and ask each department to look for savings. If it hasn’t been done, we need to do it. It’s the responsible thing to do.” Staff was suggesting there be an additional $588,858 in expenditures in 2007 — mainly capital works — but finance committee members insisted that it would be unacceptable to cover them through a general tax hike. “It’s a bit steep. We have to look at other things going up for the taxpayer — regional district, hospital and schools. There’s a cumulative impact,” said Cunningham. That is also the view of Coun. Barry Beardsell, who isn’t on the finance committee but participated in the debate. “It’s not a matter of see what you can come up with. It’s telling them (staff), ‘You will reduce your budget by X per cent,” he said. “It will be tough in some departments and good in others. It will be a balancing act.” Coun. Patrick Nicol, committee chairman, says the goal is to find one per cent in savings or $265,000, and there should not be a drastic impact on services to the public. “There’s room to save one per cent,” he said. Beyond savings, the remainder of the $588,858 in budget additions could be covered through dipping into a $780,000 surplus. “It’s a reasonable thing to do,” said Nicol of using the surplus funds generated through higher building permit revenue and debt reduction. The finance committee’s recommendation will now go to council for consideration, and a final budget doesn’t have to be adopted until spring.