Kimberley’s draft 2024-2028 Five Year Financial Plan includes a 5.33 per cent tax increase.
Mayor Don McCormick said that number could still change.
“It’s not locked in yet because we don’t have the final assessment number, and some other variables could impact that, but it will be close to 5.3 per cent,” said McCormick.
McCormick said the projected tax increase represents an increase of about $144 for the average family home.
In the past, Kimberley has been able to keep its property tax increases to the municipal inflation rate, but cost increases have caught up.
“The amount of inflation we’ve been seeing in the past two or three years is significantly higher than the two per cent we’ve traditionally seen,” said McCormick. “If you look at the projects and things we have in place, that five per cent increase – I feel – is a reasonable amount for us to continue doing the work we’re doing without incurring any service reductions.”
McCormick said infrastructure is going to be a big focus in this budget.
“We’re always looking at getting the best value for the community and ensuring we minimize those increases, but don’t minimize them to such an extent that we continue to dig the hole,” said McCormick. “We got into a pretty big hole, infrastructure-wise, because we deferred those increases. We need to be very prudent about what those increases are but still get the work done that will enable them to stay low.”
Next, city council will give the budget three readings and adopt the changes in April, and tax notices will be sent out in mid-May
