Tax hike recommended in DWK

 by Wayne Moore - Castanet Jan 14, 2012 / 5:00 am
West Kelowna Council will begin the process Tuesday of putting together its 2012 municipal budget. On the table, a tax increase of three per cent. That increase, according to Chief Financial Officer, Jim Zaffino, equates to an additional $669,000 in revenue for the municipality. That, says Zaffino, would be added to tax revenue due to growth of $276,000 giving the municipality nearly $1M in added revenue in 2012 compared with 2011. In a document council will review next Tuesday, Zaffino recommends the additional funds be utilized in three areas: $104,000 - Increase in 2012 operating expenses

• $397,000 - Proposed increase in reserves
• $443,000 - Available for service level increases

In addition, Zaffino says the municipality has realized savings from 2011 of $454,000 through growth, operating cost savings and Library Reserve transfers.  He says requests for service level increases amount to $256,000 leaving council with $197,000 for discretionary use. "Council may direct that all or part of the funds be used to increase reserves, increase services or reduce taxes," says Zaffino in his report. "If all of these funds were to be committed to tax reduction, the revised tax increase would amount to 2.11 per cent. The 2012 budget calls for $23.2M to be raised through taxation, nearly $1M more than in 2011. Council will also be asked to approve the creation of seven new reserve funds.
These include:

• Land Acquisition - $1.4M
• Municipal Hall Construction - $1M
• Municipal Yards Construction - $300,000
• Storm Sewer - $500,000
• Future Sewer Expenditures - $1.375M
• Liability - $100,000
• Future Expenditures - $1.163M

The new reserve funds would come from budget surpluses of slightly more than $5.9M from the 2008, 2009 and 2010 budgets. Zaffino says 2011 year-end results are not yet known.