Kimberley residents will see a difference in their municipal tax bills this year as Kimberley City Council has adopted its 2025-2029 Five-Year Financial Plan and associated tax bylaws.
With this, Kimberley has locked in the City’s annual spending plan along with Parcel Tax and Flat Tax rates to help pay for Kimberley’s operating costs.
The 2025 Flat Tax is unchanged from last year’s rates at $306 per parcel on developed residential properties and $386 for undeveloped residential properties.
Meanwhile, the Parcel Tax rate will increase to $215.73, which is $2 more than last year.
Mayor Don McCormick says City staff did well in creating a balanced budget despite feeling the pinch of inflation.
“Staff have put this budget together without any cuts to projects that need to be done this year to keep our level of service where they are,” said McCormick.
“Prudent financial management over the last several years and great work from our senior managers in making sure priorities are looked after have kept us in a very good position this year.”
Kimberley approved its property tax bylaw in early March, which set a 6.99 per cent increase.
That increase means a single-family residential home assessed at the average of $572,954 would see a jump of $16.75 per month on their municipal taxes.
“The recommendation that was presented by staff and adopted by council was an increase for the average single-family home of about $201 per year,” said McCormick.
“That represents a number of items, including inflation. With costs going up, if we don’t match that then we have to reduce costs somewhere else. That means service reductions, which is definitely something that nobody wants to do.”
Municipal property taxes are used to pay for the City’s operating expenses, infrastructure maintenance and capital projects.
Kimberley’s 2025 Capital Plan budget is projected at just over $36.7 million for its various projects and expenses.
That includes the wastewater treatment plant replacement, St. Mary’s Avenue reconstruction and the Civic Centre chiller replacement, among other projects.
Kimberley’s budget will include more than $6.3 million toward the water, sewer and general reserve funds.
A further $461,842 has been set aside for cash and in-kind grants to various community organizations.
The mayor says the City tries to find a balance between making sure the community stays on top of its projects, while keeping the tax burden on residents as low as possible.
“We’re always looking to make sure we get the best value for the community, and making sure we minimize those tax increases while not minimizing them so much that we continue to dig a hole,” said McCormick.
“We got into a pretty deep hole, infrastructure-wise, because we deferred those increases. Now, we need to make sure we’re prudent with those tax increases, but at the same time, we need to get the work done that enables them to stay low.”
McCormick says significant construction investment in the community over recent years has helped bolster the municipal budget.
“We see that translate into new tax money – money that doesn’t come from existing taxpayers,” said McCormick.
The City will provide details about when you should receive your tax notice at a later date.
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