Tax axe nowhere in sight as city council approves increase

KELOWNA – After a day spent hearing submissions, Kelowna city councillors are considering a potential property tax increase of 3.46 per cent, down a touch from what staff originally recommended in a budget year dominated by increases to police services and a new building to house them.

Mayor Colin Basran led city councillors — some going through the budget process for the first time — through the hefty document containing the request for $114 million in taxation on a budget of $347 million. In the end, minor adjustments in the priorities of certain budget items meant a downtick of just .01 per cent and little change to the average $60 increase homeowners would see on their tax bills.

The continued preservation of Cameron House, a heritage house donated to the city, was one of the most contentious items. Council has already set aside $330,000 for badly-needed repairs and was considering adding another $200,000. Councillors were split on whether it was worth moving forward until more details could be had and asked staff for a workshop on heritage preservation.

Councillors also had questions of Kelowna RCMP Superintendent Nick Romanchuk over the hiring of six new officers and the hope that some of them would be used to beef up the Downtown Enforcement Unit. Romanchuk told councillors no firm plans are yet in place for their deployment.

“Anytime we add additional members, putting more members on the street certainly would be part of that,” he added.

Today’s adoption is provisional with the final budget to be adopted later this spring after B.C. Assessment issues its final assessment roll for the area.

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

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

More Articles