1.25% increase in property taxes settled on at final day of city budget deliberations

“Obviously we were facing the challenge of the impact of some decisions of the provincial and federal governments that are impacting our budget, and that necessitated a different response. Council had also put a significant amount of focus on ensuring that we had a below-inflation area tax rate.”

Mayor Given says while they had a challenging few days, council put a lot of work into the final result.

“On behalf of council, I would reflect that our organization has always focused on how we manage any amount of taxpayer dollars. Yes, when looked at on a monthly basis, or on a per household basis, it is relatively small, but council is in charge of stewardship of a lot of financial resources and its obvious from the level of detail we provide in terms of the discussions, that we take that responsibility very seriously.”

Day one and two saw reductions and changes made to several services such as transit, ALERT and to a few parks’ services.

Additions we also approved, including the continuation of the downtown revitalization program, specifically for phase four. That was approved for 2021.

Sunrise House Youth Emergency Shelter’s request for city support for their new shelter also went through.

Council also approved money to go towards community safety initiatives around the Prime Property Management building, which they plan to replace with a day shelter.

The budget will then need to go to the upcoming city council meeting, where it will need to be fully approved.

by Emily Keller

1.25% increase in property taxes settled on at final day of city budget deliberations

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