Vernon Council discussing the proposed draft 2024-2028 Financial Plan at a special meeting Tuesday, Nov. 14 (Liam Verster/Vernon Matters Staff)

By Liam Verster

Tax Hikes of 6.57% to 7.85%

Proposed Vernon tax increase accounts for inflation and growth

Nov 14, 2023 | 12:14 PM

The City of Vernon is considering a tax increase in the range of 6.5 to 7.8 per cent for 2024, which the mayor says takes into account inflation and matching service levels with population growth.

At a special meeting Tuesday, Nov. 14, Vernon’s Director of Financial Services, Debra Law, presented city council with the 2024-2028 Proposed Financial Plan.

The plan outlined three possible scenarios.

The first would see all requested tax-funded service level adjustments supported, leading to a tax increase of 7.85 per cent in 2024. The second scenario would see all the requests supported with the exception of the hiring of two new RCMP members, which would be funded through reserves in 2024, resulting in a tax hike of 6.95 per cent. The third option would be similar to scenario two, but would also use reserves to fund a transit contract increase, resulting in a net taxation increase of 6.57 per cent.

Each of the scenarios included a four per cent council-endorsed tax increase for operations and capital, a 1.31 per cent hike related to pre-approved service level adjustments (SLAs) from 2023, and a one-time change for recreation accounting for a 2.48 per cent increase.

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The changes to recreation include eliminating the Greater Vernon Recreation Funding Agreement, a non-discretionary cost, and inclusion of recommendations from the 2018 Master Plan, amounting to a total cost of $1,280,500.

The tax increases also include an estimated non-market change of $630,000.

Law noted the scenarios only outlined the taxation impact, stating other revenue sources, such as investments and development permits, are added to specific department revenue or have already been committed to ongoing expenditures.

Council received the staff report and draft taxation increases for information Tuesday. Councillors Brian Guy, Brian Quiring, and Akbal Mund were not in attendance.

Speaking with Vernon Matters following the special meeting, Mayor Victor Cumming said the proposed tax hikes for 2024 were higher than usually seen.

“It’s always very uncomfortable when we see those high numbers. Historically we’ve been able to do better than that,” Cumming said.

“One of the complexities is that we’re working with past inflation. We don’t usually say to staff ‘come back with a four per cent operational increase,’ which is what they’ve done. Usually our number is much lower, often it’s at two per cent, so that creates a very substantial base.”

Vernon’s mayor said council will be digging deep into the proposed financial plan and looking to put “downward pressure” on some of the numbers, however he did state that community growth has to be taken into account.

“It’s about the acceleration pace. The whole community here — Vernon, Coldstream and Areas B and C — this area has been growing at 1,000 people a year, so there is some pressure to increase services to match that growth,” Cumming stated.

“We’ll see if the city keeps pace with that or we find a way of having our services increase slower.”

With the draft financial plan received for information, the City of Vernon will next hold public engagement sessions. Those will be held on both the morning and afternoon of December 4.

Council will come up with a final taxation increase at a series of special budget meetings in mid-December.