Holidays are almost over and Vernon’s politicians are getting back to hammering out a financial plan for the new year. A special committee of the whole meeting will be held at city hall at 9 a.m. Wednesday so council can go over budget documents provided by staff. There will also be a chance for residents to provide input on the proposed budget. “People should come out and see how we build the budget,” said Coun. Jack Gilroy. At the last special meeting in mid-December, six residents attended the session and two offered advice to council. Part of that meeting included the various city departments putting forward items that could be added to the budget. Presently, city staff have suggested a 2.5 per cent residential tax increase as part of the 2009 budget, but no final decisions have been made by council yet. Some politicians have suggested that the tax rate should be as low as possible, while others stand behind a levy that is linked to the cost of living. “If we keep it at 2.5 per cent, that’s great for me,” said Gilroy. “We could go lower but we have to look after roads and other services.” Gilroy believes there must be a balancing act between not increasing taxes too much and providing services the public demands. “If we go to zero per cent, in a couple of years we may need 10 per cent to make up for it,” he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment