By Richard Rolke - Vernon Morning Star - April 23, 2008
Taxes are rising slightly for Lumby residents. Council gave three readings Monday to the 2008 financial plan, including a 2.26 per cent residential tax increase. “That’s just the village share. We don’t have control over the other taxes,” said Mayor Eric Foster referring to agencies such as the regional district, schools and library board. For the average home assessed at $248,000, the municipal tax hike will mean an additional $13 in taxes this year. Foster believes the impact will be minimal for most people. “The cost of living is 2.5 per cent,” he said. raditionally, the village follows a policy of adding an additional one per cent on top of the cost of living to calculate the tax increase. However, council was able to shelve the policy for this year after learning there is $14 million in new assessments. “We had enough growth to keep things down,” sad Foster. Foster admits that no one likes paying taxes, but he insist they can’t be avoided. “We have to run the business of the community,” he said. “We are building new sidewalks and streets and infrastructure tax money.” According to village figures, for every $1 of taxes, it received 34 cents or 34 per cent. The largest other amount goes to schools (32 per cent), followed by 24 per cent for the regional district, three per cent for libraries, three per cent for policing, three per cent for hospitals, one per cent for B.C. Assessment and one per cent for debt. Of that 34 cents that goes to the village, 0.083 cents goes to public works, 0.004 cents to the cemetery, 0.020 cents to planning and zoning, 0.018 cents to parks, 0.016 cents to capital projects, 0.002 to reserve funds, 0.008 cents to council, 0.077 cents to administration and 0.022 cents to protective services.It’s anticipated that Lumby council will adopt the 2008 budget in two weeks.
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Budget approved in Enderby By Richard Rolke - Vernon Morning Star - April 23, 2008
A tax increase is on the verge of being approved by Enderby politicians. On Monday, council gave three readings to the 2008 financial plan, which calls for a 1.44 per cent tax increase. For the average home assessed at $250,000, the increase will result in an additional $19 in taxes for this year. Mayor Sue Phillips believes there are a number of reasons as to why the city was able to keep the tax increase down compared to other nearby communities.“We had money in reserves for the big projects we are doing and there’s just good fiscal management,” she said. The city has also been able to reduce some of its debt load. “We took the money from that and transferred it into reserves which helps with those (capital) projects,” said Geri Ferguson, treasurer. Residential and commercial construction has also bolstered Enderby’s financial coffers. “New growth generated $18,000 of new revenue,” said Ferguson. One per cent in taxes equates to $10,000. While efforts were made to minimize the impact on property owners as much as possible, Phillips insists that a tax increase couldn’t be avoided. “How else do you get anything done,” she said of providing services and improving infrastructure in the community. It should be pointed out that council is only responsible for the municipal portion of the tax bill, although it also includes rates for library board, regional district, schools and other agencies. “We are the collector for those jurisdictions but we don’t set those rates,” said Ferguson. “We don’t have any input on how much they will be raising in taxes.” It’s anticipated that the city’s 2008 budget will be adopted by council May 5. “Tax notices could be going out within the following week of that occurring,” said Ferguson.
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