Tax increase lowered for City of Vernon

Jan 24, 2023 | 10:45 AM

The 2023 tax hike for Vernon property owners will be slightly lower than originally thought.

Vernon council approved a budget increase of 4.79 per cent in December which included information from BC Assessment that the 2023 non-market changes in assessments would total about $300,000.

However, in late December, the city was notified by BC Assessment that the non-market changes will be approximately $750,000 – an increase of $450,000.

Mayor Victor Cumming calls it excellent news for Vernon.

“When council originally debated this year’s budget, we made the difficult decision to continue to defer putting $350,000 annually into a fire apparatus reserve. Now that we have this new information, council has been able to approve the funding request for the fire apparatus reserve, which will help Vernon Fire Rescue Services plan and prepare for the replacement of fire apparatus when needed in the future,” Cumming said.

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The remaining $100,000 from non-market change has been added into the 2023 municipal budget calculations, which means the overall budget increase has been reduced from 4.79 per cent to 4.57 per cent.

This includes:

2.67 per cent increase for annual operating expenses and improvements to public services;
1.90 per cent increase for the final installment of the 10-year infrastructure levy program

The city’s 2023–2027 Financial Plan is expected to be adopted by council at its next regular meeting on February 13.

Tax rate options are expected to be considered by council in April and property tax notices will be mailed to property owners in May 2023.

by Pete McIntyre

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