Tax increase moves ahead

Richard Rolke - Vernon Morning Star Published: March 23, 2010 7:00 PM

A Vernon politician trying to whittle spending back couldn’t get his colleagues to change course. The city’s 2010 financial plan was adopted Monday, with only Coun. Bob Spiers opposed. “Every dollar counts,” he said of the potential impact on residents. With a 1.9 per cent residential tax increase, the budget will see a home assessed at $418,676 pay an additional $19.88 this year. “It’s $60 for a business person and at a time when business said it wanted zero, I’m disappointed we couldn’t deliver,” said Spiers, adding that the city isn’t the only agency looking for more revenue. “The HST is going up, the carbon tax is going up and Hydro is going up. The regional district is going up one per cent.”

The only change to the budget was not spending $13,000 on a new heating unit for the library because a unit has been salvaged from the old medical clinic building. However, that $13,000 will remain in the budget as part of a reserve for infrastructure. In fact, half of the overall 1.9 per cent tax increase will go towards dealing with capital upgrades like roads and sidewalks. “From the beginning we’ve been told there’s an infrastructure deficit,” said Coun. Mary-Jo O’Keefe. “We need to build up reserves so we feel comfortable that we can address infrastructure issues as they come forward.” Coun. Shawn Lee also wanted the city to stick to its plan and not reopen the budget. “I don’t want to over-tax and spend wildly but we need to be careful,” he said. “If we get too tight with the budget, we could be in trouble.”