By a 4-2 vote (Cunningham and Beardsell opposed, Nichol absent)) the Council accepted a 2% tax hike down slightly from the original 2.83%. Both of the opposing councillors thought the tax increased should be lowered to 0%.
What happened to accomplish this were a series of changes that resulted in a $123,000 tax reduction to the taxpayers and the establishment of a $70,000 reserve for Business Tax Equalization and a $583,500 Infrastructure Reserve. $17,100 was put back into the budget for minor cuts that would have affected services.
To provide funding for this $793,600 the council decided to forgo putting $300,000 directly into Airport Reserves and decided to draw down Police Reserves to 1,000,000, effectively putting $263,000 into the budget. It was also decided to pay for the OCP review $230,600 from the existing $700,000 in 2006 operating surplus.
This leaves only $469,400 (700,000 - 230,600) in the 2006 year end surplus (approx.) for the council to slice and dice.
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Don Quixote Note: The tax increase should be ZERO but at the very least it should be no more than 2006 CPI (inflation) of 1.64%. (Only $55,000 to get there)
The council also in effect drew down the RCMP reserve and transferred the money ($263,000) into the infrastructure reserve. This should only be done as a separate and distinct motion as was specified in the original bylaw that established the Policing Reserve.
There are also minor amounts $65,000 in airport profits and $29,000 in soft costs in the land Committee Budget that have not yet been recognized or addressed. I trust the $113,333 or the adjusted final figure in the Airport Reserve account on the Airport Books will be transferred to the Airport Capital Reserve on the City's books.
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