Vernon City Council at the regular meeting Tuesday, April 11 (photo by Liam Verster / Vernon Matters)

By Liam Verster

4.48% tax hike

Vernon property tax increase lowered, rate ratio set

Apr 14, 2023 | 1:15 PM

The City of Vernon is lowering its 2023 property tax increase…slightly.

At its regular meeting Tuesday, April 11, Vernon city council heard that B.C. Assessment has finalized the calculations, which show local residential property assessments rose by 10.43 per cent annually, or a total of over $1.4-billion, while business assessments increased 10.86 per cent from 2022, or $184-million.

The non-market new construction growth was $793,000, $43,000 more than originally forecasted when council set the tax increase at 4.57 per cent.

With those overages now available, the tax hike can be decreased slightly to 4.48 per cent, which the city says translates to an additional $79 for an average property.

These rates include the final year of the 1.9 per cent infrastructure levy.

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Council was also presented with four options for business to residential tax rate ratios, which reflects how much a commercial property would pay for every dollar a residential property pays. In 2022, that ratio was set at roughly 3.3379 per cent.

Option One would see the business to residential tax ratio use the same tax base as the previous year, add the changes in assessments to offset against residential properties, and bring the ratio down slightly to 3.3251.

Option Two would use the same tax base but shift the revenue to the residential side, bringing the ratio down to 3.2 per cent, which meets the city’s target ratio.

Option Three, a more moderate approach to option two, takes into account the original proposed tax increase of 4.57 per cent and brings the ratio down to 3.2274.

Option Four, which staff recommended pursuing, used the option one model but also takes into account the revised property tax increase of 4.48 per cent, bringing the ratio down to 3.2369.

After receiving the information, Councillor Brian Quiring suggested pursuing Option Two, saying the existing policy outlines that a multiplier of 3.2 should not be exceeded, that the figure is quite high already, that Vernon already has the highest ratio in the region, and that supporting businesses by bringing the ratio down is important.

“Who pays the taxes here? The tenants. All the small business start-ups, all the small business owners, all the people trying to get going. This is a flow through for most landlords,” Quiring remarked.

“We have options that lower the multiplier and I think we should be following our own policy.”

Mayor Victor Cumming noted the recommended Option Four still drives down the ratio, though not as low as the one Quiring supported.

Councillor Brian Guy said he supported Option Four, calling it a balanced approach and, while not meeting that 3.2 figure, is still lower than the previous year’s ratio.

Councillor Kari Gares said she understood both businesses and residential property owners are feeling the burdens of the current economy and felt Option Four would be the best balanced approach.

The matter was put to a vote and council passed the motions to lower the property tax rate increase to 4.48 per cent and to use Option Four to set the business to residential tax rate ratio at 3.2369.

Quiring was the sole vote in opposition.