By Richard Rolke - Vernon Morning Star Published: December 12, 2008
Vernonites are being encouraged to take an active role in the city’s budget process. Council will hold a special meeting Wednesday from 9 a.m. until noon at city hall to work on the 2009 budget, and the session will include a chance for residents to provide input. “People always talk about taxes and what’s going on. We want people to play more of a part in the process and to understand the process a bit more,” said Mayor Wayne Lippert. A draft budget recently put before council suggested a 2.5 per cent residential tax increase, but Lippert says that’s not written in stone. “It’s just a starting point where staff have looked at the numbers,” he said. “Council will make those decisions during the process. At the end of the day, we will do whatever is needed to serve the needs of the community.” Establishing a budget is providing a steep learning curve for new members of council. “I have some questions around things that I have experience with such as tourism and economic development, but with other areas like road repair, I’m looking at it for the first time in my life,” said Coun. Mary-Jo O’Keefe. Until she gets more information, O’Keefe says it is premature to speculate on what form of tax increase, if any, she would prefer.
It’s anticipated that there will be another public input session at the end of January and the 2009 budget will be adopted in March.
