The average Vernon homeowner will be paying an extra $20 for their city taxes this year. That after council passed its new budget which includes a 1.9 percent tax hike. Councillor Bob Spiers was the lone member to vote against it, saying any increase is too much for many people, given the many other cost and tax hikes. "It's 20 dollars for the average homeowner. It's also 60 dollars for the business person at a time when the business people quite clearly came to us and said they wanted a zero budget, if not a decrease." Spiers says any money that the city could have saved, the rest of council wanted directed into a reserve fund which would not have impacted the tax hike.
As part of the new budget, Mayor Wayne Lippert says council approved a 116-thousand dollar upgrade to city hall's front entrance, to make it safer and wheelchair accessible. "This is going to address all those issues and give a nice sloped ramp up, so that anybody can get up there. There shouldn't be any trip hazards and it will make it easier for people to get in and out of city hall.". The budget still includes plans to demolish the old medical clinic site downtown, and design plans to turn it in a park.
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