It's a done deal. Vernon council has given final approval to its new budget which includes a 3.42 percent tax hike. That includes 1.9 percent for infrastructure and 1.5 percent for operations. Councillor Bob Spiers says the infrastructure tax will likely be around several more years. "It's a good thing as long as the 1.9% goes to true infrastructure maintenance and replacement, as opposed to new fancy ideas that may come down the pipe," he tells Kiss FM. Spiers says he always pushes for the lowest tax hike as possible, which he feels is the case with this budget. "The operating side is less than the CPI (Consumer Price Index) and that's sort of the benchmark I try to attain at the very least," adds Spiers. Mayor Akbal Mund says it's a sound financial blueprint. "We started out with the the 1.9 for infrastructure, and we (originally) had 1.8 for the overall increase, I thought to come under that was very good," says Mund. The city's finance manager, Kevin Bertles, says they are still waiting for assessment data before determining what the tax impact to the average homeowner will be.
-----------
107.5 KISSFM POLL: Results as at 7:00 PM
 Do you feel Vernon's 3.4 percent tax hike this year is reasonable? | ||
|---|---|---|
| No | ||
| 29- | 65.9% | |
| yes | ||
| 15- | 34.1% | |
| Number of Voters | : 44 |
No comments:
Post a Comment