City cuts back taxes

By Richard Rolke - Vernon Morning Star - March 16, 2008

The axe has cut deeply into the City of Vernon’s provisional 2008 budget. Vernon council decided Friday that the budget will include a 2.26 per cent residential tax increase. “We originally started at 5.9 per cent. We have been quite responsible,” said Coun. Jack Gilroy. The proposed tax increase went from 5.9 to 3.49 per cent in February, but council members chopped $125,000 from the budget Friday, leading to 2.26 per cent. Among the items removed were replacing $60,000 in the affordable housing reserve which had been used for the Hospice House expansion, and $65,000 for a concrete wall that would screen the works yard from public viewing. Coun. Barry Beardsell attempted to have $20,000 for twinkle lights on 30th Avenue trees cut from the budget, but that didn’t go anywhere. Coun. Juliette Cunningham pointed out that the city is responsible for maintenance of the downtown revitalization program and tourists enjoy the lights. “It adds an ambience,” she said.

The only opposition to moving ahead with the budget was from Beardsell, who pushed for a zero per cent tax increase. Beardsell says it is important for the city to consider tax increases being levied by other jurisdictions and the current state of the economy. “There’s only one taxpayer,” said Beardsell, who sharply criticized the North Okanagan Regional District’s budget. “We also read about Tolko and the layoffs. We have to go the extra mile to get this to zero.” But the rest of his colleagues would not support Beardsell. “I’ve seen what zero does in this city. We fall behind in our infrastructure,” said Gilroy. That was also the view of Coun. Buffy Baumbrough, who pointed out that all communities face a deficit when it comes to replacing aging infrastructure. “As local government, we can’t ignore it. It’s a huge issue,” said Baumbrough, who wants to start building up financial reserves to handle long-term infrastructure needs. The next step with the 2008 budget process will be for council to go through various bylaw readings. A public input session will be held April 14. It’s anticipated that the final budget will be adopted April 28. Mayor Wayne Lippert believes the budget process reflects council’s commitment to providing services in a financially sound manner.“We had some good debate and we are doing things that are healthy for the community,” he said.

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Council budget a good effort Morning Star editorial

The City of Vernon is often accused of being out of touch with rank and file citizens, but it appears like their interests were front and centre during budget deliberations. The proposed 2008 budget initially called for a 5.9 per cent tax increase, but tinkering brought it down to 3.49 per cent in February. And on Friday, further finetuning led to $125,000 being chopped, bringing the tax hike to 2.26 per cent. Mayor and council were flexible during the process and while there may have been differences of opinion, the end goal was the same — trying to maintain services without hitting residents hard in the wallet. It is obviously a trend other communities should have followed. Among them is Coldstream council which has shown an unwillingness to pare back a 9.1 per cent tax increase while the North Okanagan Regional District pushed its budget ahead with little public input. There were some calls for a zero per cent tax increase in Vernon Friday, but 2.26 per cent is in line with the cost of living and there is no question that the cost of providing services to residents goes up every year. And anyone familiar with their history remembers when taxes always hovered around the zero-mark in the 1990s, and Vernon’s infrastructure was ignored. That ultimately led to significant double-digit increases just so roads and other crucial work could proceed. In the end, no one likes paying taxes but they are a necessary evil if we want our community to function properly. Vernonites can have their say on the budget April 14, but opposition isn’t expected because it appears like council has found the right balance.