Public safety top of mind as Kelowna council approves tax increase

KELOWNA – Taxpayers will likely face a property tax increase of 4.12 per cent after city council passed the 2016 provisional city budget.

The increase is heavy on public safety as more than half the increase of about $6 million is dedicated to hiring more police and bylaw officers while moving ahead with construction of a new police station.

Council agreed to hire six more RCMP officers, on top of six hired last year. Two new bylaw officers will take up duties in May in time for the busy summer season.

Mayor Colin Basran said he was happy with the budget and its emphasis on public safety.

“This is what our citizen survey tells us people want. I have never heard anyone ask us to cut services.”

The budget increase will see Kelowna taxpayers fork over $120 million, about 38 per cent of the total budget. The rest of the revenue comes from other taxation and revenue. 

A 4.12 per cent tax hike would give the average Kelowna home a tax bill of $1,861.

The provisional budget will be finalized in April, 2016

To contact the reporter for this story, email John McDonald at jmcdonald@infonews.ca or call 250-808-0143. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.

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John McDonald

John began life as a journalist through the Other Press, the independent student newspaper for Douglas College in New Westminster. The fluid nature of student journalism meant he was soon running the place, learning on the fly how to publish a newspaper.

It wasn’t until he moved to Kelowna he broke into the mainstream media, working for Okanagan Sunday, then the Kelowna Daily Courier and Okanagan Saturday doing news graphics and page layout. He carried on with the Kelowna Capital News, covering health and education while also working on special projects, including the design and launch of a mass market daily newspaper. After 12 years there, John rejoined the Kelowna Daily Courier as editor of the Westside Weekly, directing news coverage as the Westside became West Kelowna.

But digital media beckoned and John joined Kelowna.com as assistant editor and reporter, riding the start-up as it at first soared then went down in flames. Now John is turning dirt as city hall reporter for iNFOnews.ca where he brings his long experience to bear on the civic issues of the day.

If you have a story you think people should know about, email John at jmcdonald@infonews.ca

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