City Of Kelowna
Kelowna hopes to end year without ‘significant snow event’
CENTRAL OKANAGAN - About half of Kelowna’s civic workers will be off the job over the holidays but snow removal crews won’t be amongst them. “Yes, it’s all hands on deck if needed,” public works manager Darryl Astofooroff says. “It’s looking good though, nothing much in the forecast." The city has gotten off lightly so...
A look at what the City of Kelowna accomplished in 2015
KELOWNA - The city claims its goal is building the best mid-sized city in North America and progress toward that goal is outlined in the 2015 Year in Review, released by the city this week. Perhaps the biggest accomplishment the city made this year actually involved other communities. This past year the abandoned CN Rail...
How the City of Kelowna plans on spending your money in 2016
KELOWNA - The city will require about $120 million from property owners to cover costs in Kelowna next year. While big ticket items like police officers and recreation centres often get the headlines, the city spends millions on dozens of other initiatives in many different areas as well. Here, in no particular order, are some...
Don’t tie property tax increases to inflation says Kelowna city manager
KELOWNA - Kelowna city manager Ron Mattiussi thinks using inflation as a yardstick for property tax increases just makes the type of problems the city is now facing worse. "The rate of inflation, although an interesting benchmark, really should not guide these decisions,” Mattiussi said, to councillors considering a 4.11 per cent tax increase. Kelowna...
Kelowna to give some love to 14,000 street lights
KELOWNA - Most people don’t think much about street lights unless they happen to crash their car into one of them. Kelowna has 14,000 street lights with a replacement value of $23 million, Kelowna council heard during budget deliberations today, Dec. 17. Many of the lights, however, are past their service life and require maintenance...
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...
City of Kelowna playing catch-up on roads after pothole complaints go up
KELOWNA - Ignore potholes in your roads and they will come back to haunt you. That’s the lesson Kelowna city council took away after approving $3.4 million for road resurfacing in the 2016 budget. Councillors heard the annual roads resurfacing program has been underfunded for several years as the city focused on other priorities. Complaints...
Kelowna Fire Department to buy four new trucks for $1.6M
KELOWNA - The Kelowna Fire Department is going to get a bunch of new trucks in 2016. The city will spend $1.6 million next year replacing four of the department’s service vehicles, including $1.33 million for two new fire engines. That will buy the department two engines; an $810,000 replacement for engine four, a 1996...
Kelowna councillors face hard choice in hiring more police officers
KELOWNA - Kelowna city councillors are facing a hard choice in the 2016 budget — hire all six police officers recommended by formula, or hire just three for now even though street crime has increased over the past year. Councillors are already facing a 4.11 per cent increase on the 2016 budget, of which 1.97 per...
Kelowna councillors to pore over budget during all-day review
KELOWNA - Preliminary projections place the 2016 budget increase for the City of Kelowna at 4.11 per cent, more than a $6 million increase on taxation. That number is based on a 2.14 per cent increase for city operations and capital projects, City manager Ron Mattiussi said in a report to council Monday, plus a...
Quadriplegic man says city doesn’t care about his parking plight
KELOWNA - The family of a quadriplegic man seeking to turn their front yard into parking for his lift-equipped van will not be satisfied with anything less. Because of that, Ann and Roy Penrose have refused an offer from the city to waive the $700 fee and have them appear before council to argue their...
Quadriplegic man fighting Kelowna city hall for right to park in his own yard
KELOWNA – A Kelowna family wants to be able to park their wheel chair accessible van in their front yard but the City of Kelowna insists they need to apply for a costly bylaw variance to do so. A petition has been started in an effort to “eliminate” the need for a variance to allow...
Heritage council a step closer to reality in Kelowna
KELOWNA - Heritage management in Kelowna by an independent committee is a step closer to reality. City council agreed to have staff move on to the final stage of resurrecting the heritage advisory committee, an arms-length group to consist of nine representatives from local heritage groups, Westbank First Nation and Tourism Kelowna that also includes...
Hefty Kelowna property tax increase resting on contract obligations, mayor says
KELOWNA - Mayor Colin Basran would love to pare down the 4.11 per cent tax property tax increase council is considering but says they don’t have much room to move. Basran says the combined costs of recent union contracts with city workers and firefighters, plus initial borrowing cots for the new police station, all contractual...
Warm weather leaving puddles on Stuart Park rink
KELOWNA - The unseasonably warm weather of the last few days has resulted in pools of water developing on the outdoor rink at Stuart Park, threatening the popular facility with daytime closure. “That’s been the pattern that we’ve seen over the last few years, especially in the early or late season,” arenas supervisor Steve Fagan...