City council aiming for two per cent tax hike (KAMLOOPS)

Jeremy Deutsch - Kamloops This Week Published: February 12, 2009

Homeowners may want to set aside an extra $30 this year. It’s what a two per cent increase in property taxes works out to — and it’s the number city council is aiming for in its 2009 budget. Council has started the arduous task of working on this year’s budget, but the city’s politicians are a long way from getting to the final numbers. By law, municipalities cannot run deficits. The original budget estimates called for a 3.5 per cent tax increase due to a $2.6-million shortfall. The city’s finance department was able to whittle that number down to 1.8 per cent by deferring some capital projects and re-calibrating fuel costs. But the number doesn’t include a host of supplementary budget items that would bring the tax rate up to 5.9 per cent. Some of the items include $1.6 million for a fire-truck repair facility and $260,000 for renovations to the Sagebrush Theatre. Three quarters of a million dollars equates to roughly a one per cent increase in tax.Mayor Peter Milobar said it was a good first crack at the budget, pointing out it will be up to council to see where it wants to cut to bring down the rate. “It’s too early to tell where we’ll come out,” he said. “I’ve said all along I’d prefer to be in the two per cent range.”

Council is also figuring out a way to soften the taxpayer blow of the new fire hall in Aberdeen, expected to be operational by 2011. The new hall will require 20 new firefighters at a cost of $1.6 million. The plan is to incrementally add the costs by spending a certain amount each year for training. The city has $173,000 this year to start the process. Council has set aside another two weeks to work on the budget before going to a public forum on the five-year financial plan in March. Final approval for this year’s budget isn’t expected until April or May.