Kimberley City Council has begun discussions of its 2025-2029 Financial Plan as the city held the first of many meetings to plan out the upcoming budget.
Mayor Don McCormick says Monday’s meeting was meant to give direction for their upcoming meetings.
“There were a couple of directions given to staff, not a new direction, but confirmation of the direction set by the Financial Plan last year,” said McCormick.
“Most of that revolved around water and sewer fees, solid waste collection fee, the Aquatic Centre Parcel Tax and things like that. It was mostly a review of revenue sources, talking about where the money will come from. This was really setting the stage for later meetings where we will eventually set a rate for the coming fiscal year.”
McCormick says it is still too early to know what any tax increases will be.
“The one thing we know for sure is that inflation is going to be pegged at the consumer price index, which is right around two per cent,” said McCormick.
“It’s really important that we cover inflation with our tax rates. If we don’t, staff will need to look at ways to cut services or the level of services and we definitely don’t want to be doing that. Our goal as a council is to keep any tax increases to a reasonable amount.”
McCormick says Kimberley is in a decent position to keep its potential tax increases relatively low.
“Last year, Kimberley had $54 million in building permit value, which is investment into the community,” said McCormick.
“We see that translate into new tax money – money that doesn’t come from existing taxpayers. At this point in time, it will cover off inflation at a minimum. So, we’re starting off in a pretty good position.”
Budget meetings will continue on a regular basis until early 2025.
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