Regional district finalizes financial plan

by Richard Rolke - Vernon Morning Star posted Mar 20, 2015 at 1:00 AM

The $15.6 Million 2015 Tax Requisition.
Vernon Participates in these functions at different levels.
Vernon's $ Share by function will be presented by April 15.
Water Function not part of list as it isn't part of Taxation (yet?)

The Regional District of North Okanagan’s latest financial plan is a done deal. On Wednesday, the board adopted the 2015 budget, which has gone from $75.1 million last year to $65.2 million. “We’ve lived up to our initial goal which was to reduce spending,” said chairperson Rick Fairbairn. The operating budget is $40.9 million, down from $41.6 million, while the capital budget has gone from $33.5 to $24.3 million. The decrease in spending is largely a result of restructuring Greater Vernon’s parks and recreation function but a number of other services will either see a decrease or no increase in expenditures. A change in the 911 provider also reduced overall expenses. The total tax requisition for 2015 is $15.6 million, down from $17.6 million in 2014. Each community is requisitioned taxes based on services it receives from RDNO, and that can even vary from neighbourhood to neighbourhood. Lone opposition to the budget came from director Bob Spiers, who was concerned about Greater Vernon water rates and the amount of reserves in the Greater Vernon culture service. “The reserves in 010 (general government service) are ridiculously high,” he said.
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Don Quixote Note: My opposition was based on the 2% water Rates increase, not delaying the design of  the 2 water projects ($841,000) that were part of the 6 proposals in the Water Referendum and the building up of more reserves ($368,000) in this function. I had similar reserve concerns about stockpiling more reserves in the Performing Arts Function ($224,430 additional) and the General Govt. Function where the reserve has grown to in excess of $1.6 million. All these concerns are to be addressed at a proposed reserve workshop and/or the master water plan discussions in 2015.