If Westside joins city, taxes could go down

By Ron Seymour Monday, January 15, 2007 http://www.kelownadailycourier.ca/article_4248.php
Kelowna homeowners could see their municipal taxes drop slightly if Westsiders vote to join the city, according to an analysis of amalgamation costs.While the costs for planning services and transit would rise, the increases would be more than offset by reductions in policing costs, parks and recreation and administration.The net effect, for the owner of a typical Kelowna home, would be a drop in municipal taxes of $16.“I’m not really surprised by those estimates, because you think there should be a reduction since costs would be spread over a wider tax base,” Mayor Sharon Shepherd said Sunday.“Right now, I don’t seem amalgamation as having a huge impact on Kelowna taxes,” Shepherd said.

It’s expected that Westsiders will vote this spring on whether the area, home to 35,000 people, remains unincorporated, sets up its own local government or joins with the City of Kelowna.An analysis of the taxation impact of amalgamation on Kelowna taxes suggests that, for the owner of a home assessed at $275,000:— Planning costs would rise $11, transit charges would rise $11, and library costs would go up $1.— Governance costs would drop $8, parks and recreation charges would drop $11, and policing charges would decline $20.— There would be no significant change to current charges for roads, water, sewer or the fire department.

The potential amalgamation of Kelowna, population 112,000, and the Westside would be the biggest union of communities in B.C. since the early 1970s. That was when the NDP government ordered the forced amalgamation of the cities of Kelowna, Kamloops, Prince George and Nanaimo with smaller rural areas outside the municipal boundaries.The predicted slight decline in Kelowna municipal taxes if amalgamation with the Westside proceeds should be reassuring to city residents, said Coun. Robert Hobson.

“I think people would be pleased with that assessment,” said Hobson, chairman of the Central Okanagan regional district, which currently oversees the Westside.“I see lots of advantages to amalgamation from fiscal and management points of view,” Hobson said. “But, first and foremost, it’s up to Westsiders to decide if amalgamation would provide the level of representation that they want.”Kelowna city council has not yet decided if the issue of amalgamation should be put to city voters in a referendum. Several of them have indicated they don’t believe there’s a need for a community vote if it seems likely that city taxes would not be significantly affected by amalgamation with the Westside.