Brace yourself Revelstoke — we could be in for a big property tax increase this year.
Every year, the City of Revelstoke faces significant budget pressures. All sorts of funding requests come in to the finance department, whether its from city departments or outside groups.
This year looks especially daunting.
By the time you read this, the city's draft budget will likely be public. Council is set to have their first budget meeting on Thursday, Feb. 9, and the draft financial plan is usually released a few days ahead of time.
Here's a few of the budget items we know will be there:
The Revelstoke RCMP asked for three new police officers — a sergeant to help with administration, an investigator and a general duty officer. The cost of adding those three personnel to the payroll would likely be around $400,000. I can't imagine all three will be part of the budget, but I wouldn't be surprised if the RCMP ask for one more staff member this year.
The public works department is looking for $750,000 to fund road projects. That's all new money. As well, money will have to be found to cover the extra costs of the highway intersection project. The contract came in at almost $700,000 more than budgeted. Some of it may be covered by additional DCCs, but likely not all of it.
The Columbia Valley Skateboard Association is looking for $225,000 for the new skateboard park. That money isn't in the 2016-20 financial plan. The city would have to put off planned work on the Forum to afford that.
The city is completing it's trails strategy, but the financial plan doesn't include any money for trail projects. Laurie Donato, the director of parks, recreation & culture, told the Review she had made a budget request for trail work, but didn't say how much.
The city is upgrading the position of the head of development to a director from manager. That will mean $20,000 to $30,000 in extra wages. The good news is that because of all the development going on, the planning department is flush with money. I've heard stories of long delays getting building plans approved, so I wouldn't be surprised if there was money budgeted to hire a second building inspector. That's if they can recruit one — they're reportedly in short supply across the province.
Finally, there's $10,000 to hold a referendum on the Catherwood annexation.
Those are the demands we know of for sure. The 2016-20 financial plan called for a five per cent tax increase in 2017 and it wouldn't surprise me if that's what shows up. This doesn't necessarily mean your tax bill will go up that much. The increase is on the total amount of taxes collected in 2016, so depending on the amount of taxes collected from new construction, the impact to the individual tax payer could be less.
With cost of living the biggest challenge in Revelstoke, we need to hope the new development is doing what it should, and that's increasing the tax base and lowering the burden on everyone else. Otherwise, we're in for a hurt when taxes are due on July 1.