Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen directors have chopped $312,000 from the $12.5-million budget presented last week. However, the overall increase in the taxation requisition remains at more than 10 per cent, as the RDOS board gave its initial budget support Thursday following two days of budget deliberations. Staff will continue to look for more savings prior to final budget approval later this month. The budget includes several specific initiatives, where costs are not shared by all rural areas and municipalities. Although the overall tax requisition now totals $12.2 million, the general government budget sits at $2,425,000.
RDOS chairman Dan Ashton said part of the reason for the higher taxes this year is a slight decrease in government grants and a 25 per cent decline in the regional district‘s surpluses. “Last year, surpluses to used to offset (taxes) so that‘s one of the issues we‘re having to address,” he said. “Everybody here realizes what we are going through and we‘re still not finished.” Ashton emphasized the new budget also reflects new services such as air quality control initiatives, not included in last year‘s fiscal plans. “It‘s been very challenging -- not only for the board, but for the staff,” he said. “Everyone is cognizant of the times we‘re in and we‘re taking a hard look at absolutely everything.” Penticton Coun. John Vassilaki said although he voted in favour of first two readings of the budget bylaws Thursday, he‘d still like to see the tax increase drop substantially before the final budget is adopted.
The City of Penticton will contribute $1,537,000 to the RDOS this year - an 8.4 per cent increase over 2008. However, that is down from the 15.5 per cent hike proposed in the initial budget proposal. The budget cutbacks include a $50,000 reduction in the agricultural wood chipping program (to $100,000), the regional trails program takes a $49,000 hit, and $45,000 will be removed from an industrial and commercial plastic recycling program. An additional accountant in the RDOS office won‘t be hired until later this year, resulting in a saving of $36,000. The District of Summerland will contribute $636,000 to the regional district budget -- up 9.8 per cent from a year ago. Property owners in Okanagan Falls-Kaleden (Area D) face a 3.1 per cent increase, while Keremeos residents see a decrease of 0.7 per cent. The highest tax hike will be felt in the Town of Princeton, which faces a 43.7 per cent increase in its RDOS tax requistion (rising to $176,000), mainly due to a new community swimming pool. No more budget workshops are planned, but the RDOS board will revisit the budget prior to its adoption on March 19.
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Regional district pares back budget Joyce Langerak - Penticton Western NewsPublished: March 05, 2009
The five-year financial plan for the Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen was read a first and second time yesterday during a regular board meeting. The grand total for the annual RDOS budget is about $27 million, said Debra Potter, manager of finance. Tax requisitions usually put in about $12 million a year into the budget. “We trimmed back another $300,000 off of regional services,” said Potter. Everybody shares in the cost of regional services, she pointed out, but other parts of the budget are specific to electoral areas. The plan is to do a third and final reading during the board’s next regular meeting on March 19. “I have full expectation we’ll have finished our work by then,” said Potter. “If not, we have until March 31 for last-minute changes.” On Wednesday, the directors spent the whole day going through the proposed annual budget line by line. In the morning, they went over the supplemental side of the budget, trying to cut back wherever possible. For example, the Wood Waste Program was dropped from $150,000 to $100,000 and the mosquito control helicopter spray program lost $5,000.
Public Works Manager Pat Hickerson requested an extra $45,000 to expand agricultural solid waste plastic recycling, now costing $21,000 a year, to include industrial and commercial plastics. His request was denied. The Okanagan Film Commission requested $50,000, but director Dan Albas moved that funding be reduced to $22,000 in 2009, and that was passed following a long discussion. It was mainly agreed that the commission has been in the area for about 10 years and is doing well from a business standpoint. Director Walter Despot agreed with the reduction but said, “It’s unfair for us to cut them off overnight.”
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Don Quixote Note: The Okanagan Film Grant at NORD is listed at $26,934 for 2009 of which Vernon picks up $19708 (73.1%)
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