Kelowna Budget 2016
Kelowna will spend millions on new vehicles in 2016
KELOWNA - Kelowna will be dropping lots of money on new wheels this year as it prepares to replace an assortment of vehicles. The city will spend almost $2 million in 2016 replacing 25 vehicles or pieces of equipment of various types that are at the end of their service life cycles. That includes 15...
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...