New parcel tax takes centre stage in Castlegar's 2016 budget
By Kyra Hoggan
Castlegar city council unveiled its proposed 2016 budget and five-year financial plan at a public open house Tuesday evening, in what proved to be one of the best-attended budget consultations in years.
Councillor and Finance Committee chair Dan Rye said this year’s budget, reaching almost $27 million (roughly $12.7 million for operations and $14.2 for capital investments), was one of the most difficult he’s seen in his time in office, largely because of the proposed new parcel tax, a tax Castlegar has never levied before, and in favour of which council voted unanimously.
“It’s something we’ve never done in the past – but if you look around, we’re the only municipality in the area that doesn’t have one,” he said, adding that with almost $7.5 million of priority work required on the storm water infrastructure over the next 10 years, something had to be done. “Perhaps not everyone will be entirely happy about it, but there were a lot of meetings and a lot of deliberations, and this was a big step forward.”
He said roughly 40 people attended the open house, and most of their concerns, too, revolved around the parcel tax, which will be a flat-rate $150 per year, per parcel.
“People wanted to know what it was going to be used for, if it would go only to the storm water system, or be used for other things or go into general revenue,” Rye said, explaining the tax will be used specifically and only for storm water infrastructure. “This fund won’t be for sewer or drinking water or the airport – we already have other funds set aside for those.”
While councillors Kevin Chernoff, Dan Rye, Susan Heaton-Sherstobitoff, Deb McIntosh and Florio Vassilakakis spoke – and voted – in favour of the budget’s first two readings at their regular meeting Monday night, councillor Bruno Tassone was the sole voice of dissent and voted for the parcel; tax but against the budget itself.
“The parks foreman – I’m not against the position, but that and the Millennium Park services contract account for two per cent of the budget, and I say tax payers are getting charged twice for the same service,” Tassone said. “The parks maintenance staff could do that work (as opposed to contracting it out).”
The budget also proposes a of four-per-cent increase in residential taxes for residents and two-per-cent hike for businesses.
The 2016 average assessed value of a Castlegar residential property is $261,997. Total municipal residential taxes, based on the average assessed value, are expected to be approximately $1,032.
The budget and five-year financial plan are slated to for third reading on April 18 and adoption on May 2. For a more detailed breakdown of the budget, click here.
