Everything from photocopies to cemetery plots will probably cost you more next year. Penticton city council gave preliminary approval Monday to a five per cent increase on its service fees and charges, with few exceptions. Hikes in the range of six to 10 per cent were suggested in the core review implementation plan, but council settled on five per cent at a special closed-door meeting last week.Coun. John Vassilaki was one of two councillors who initially opposed the increase at that session, but was absent from Monday‘s meeting due to a family emergency. He said in an interview Wednesday, though, that council should hold off on the fee increases until it knows what kind of a property tax hike is coming out of the 2011 budget. “We won‘t know what the tax increase is going to be until we finish the discussions we‘re having with CUPE on their new contract, and that could be several months away,” Vassilaki said. “I‘m hoping that if we get what we are putting in for, there will be very little increase on taxation at all, but if we don‘t get what we‘re looking for then it‘s going to be a fairly good increase, because we haven‘t taken into consideration any increases for salaries and wages” in the budget. City clerk Cathy Ingram told council it had been “several years since we‘ve done a real thorough review” of the fee schedules. Coun. Mike Pearce said it‘s important for the public “to notice that it‘s been several years since any council dealt with (that) reality.” Dan Albas was the other councillor aligned with Vassilaki at the closed-door meeting, but changed his tune Monday. He explained that while he thought five per cent seemed arbitrary at first, he later realized that inflation alone over the past few years likely increased by more than that amount while the fees did not. Albas suggested the fees be indexed to inflation, “rather than having large increases beyond three per cent.” “I would hate to see us have to repeat this,” he said. The increases should be made official at council‘s next meeting Jan. 10. In case you‘re wondering, with the hike in effect a single-page, black-and-white photocopy at City Hall will set you back 32 cents ($1.05 for colour ink), while a standard cemetery plot for city residents will cost $553.35 (plus $677.25 to open and close the grave).
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Don Quixote Note: Vernon Fees and Charges can be found at:
Fees and Charges Bylaw #3909 Consolidated
Photocopier (public use) $0.30 per page (P.1)
Cemetery Bylaw Consolidated # 3472
Interment, open and close: - Adult $540 effective Jan 1,2011
http://www.transitbc.com/regions/ver/fares/default.cfm Transit Fares
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