(1%= $163,406). Budget not Ready for Prime-Time yet !

The Road Rehabilitation Policy was reanalyzed by the Finance Department and it has resulted in an underestimation for Road Rehab of $94,484. ($1,251,000 not $1,156,516 is required).

This money was unanimously added to the budget deficit of $570,287 (3.49%) and new budget deficit stands at $664,771 (4.068%).

Council decided little else at the Budget session on Friday but a vote to accept this budget and set a day for public input was NOT accepted. There will be further Council Budget sessions to refine this budget which is not nearly ready for Prime Time. It is up to Council to delete the fat in this budget. You can find the details presented to the Council Friday at Agenda Package - 1.31MB (p. 15-34) (Capital tax figures at P. 32 and 33.)
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Some interesting stats purported to show our per capita tax was the lowest of the 12 cities compared were introduced but hopefully ignored as they were not inclusive of the real tax burden of the residential taxpayers in their respective cities. The comparison of municipal tax burdens on per capita basis while ignoring the tax burden from the regional districts is specious at best. I would hope that at the next budget session the full and complete per capita story is told. Likewise the introduction of Total Taxes on a representative house in each City while not completing the analysis by taking the tax paid as a percentage of their respective values is bogus and misleading. I stand by the chart below indicating Vernon has 2nd highest taxes in the valley.
For the Record the 12 Cities in the Comparison used by City of Vernon have the following Taxes as %age of House Value:

North Vancouver .468%
Chilliwack .773%
Kelowna .645%
Penticton .706%
White Rock .604%
Port Moody .560%
Pitt Meadows .609%
Campbell River .745%
Mission .914%
Cranbrook 1.117
Vernon .747%
Kamloops ..957%

RED Cities have a higher tax burden than Vernon.