Kelowna city council has approved the final 2017 financial plan, with a municipal tax increase of 3.84 per cent.
The tax rate is slightly lower than the 3.86 per cent increase approved by council at the provisional budget deliberations in December 2016.
“We often see changes between provisional and final budget,” said financial planning manager George King. “New information is available between December and April, including emergent items, which are included in final budget. This final budget, we saw a decrease in franchise fee revenues from Fortis BC due to lower commodity costs, and a funding request for construction of a 20km paddle trail from Bertram Creek to McKinley Landing. These adjustments were offset by an increase in new construction revenue.”
Taxation accounts for approximately one-third of City of Kelowna funding sources in 2017, with the other two-thirds coming from sources such as grants, reserve funds, and fees and charges.
Previous years’ budgets include commitments that impact the 2017 Financial Plan, such as the police services building project, and employee contract costs.
A tax rate of 3.84 per cent means the owner of a single-family home with an average assessed value of $556,210 will pay $1,932 for the municipal portion of their property taxes. A City property tax bill will also include other user fees such as curbside collection and levies for other taxing authorities (e.g. School District, Regional District of Central Okanagan, Library, Hospital and B.C. Assessment Authority).
For more information about the City budget and to view the 2016 Financial Plan, visit kelowna.ca/budget.