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December 07, 2018 - 7:30 PM
KELOWNA - The average Kelowna homeowner will pay an extra $88 in property taxes next year — or $7.33 per month — if all the proposed changes are approved by city council.
A projected general tax increase of 2.45 per cent will add $48 to the taxes charged to the owner of a home valued at $682,260. A proposed 1.95 per cent infrastructure levy could add another $40 for a total of $2,078 in municipal taxes per year.
The general tax increase will be debated by city council next week but the final numbers won’t be set until the spring.
If approved, it will bring in $5.7 million in extra taxes so the total collected will be $139.4 million.
Some of the things being asked for include 59 more staff, 44 of whom could be full-time.
Eight full-time firefighters are slated to be hired over two years at a cost of close to $100,000 each.
Nine positions are being requested for the RCMP detachment, including six full-time officers. The cost per officer is going up 2.8 per cent to $173,000 in 2019 from $169,000 this year, which will add $846,000 to the city’s costs. Since it takes a year or more for officers to actually arrive on the job, the true cost likely won’t be felt until 2020.
One full-time administrative clerk is being requested to facilitate the cannabis and short-term rental compliance programs and five positions are being requested by the planning department.
City workers are scheduled to get a 1.5 per cent pay raise while firefighters will get 2.5 per cent.
As for parks, roads and other projects that taxpayers will actually see, the biggest one will likely be $9.7 million being spent on the South Perimeter Road that will include a bridge over Bellevue Creek. Another $3 million will be spent resurfacing existing roads.
Work could resume on the Glenmore Recreation Park at a cost of $3.3 million, including construction of two multi-use grass playing fields.
Cyclists and walkers may benefit from $3.7 million being requested to extend the Ethel Street “active use” corridor from Sutherland to Rose/Guisachan. This cost includes upgrades to sewer and water pipes.
Construction of a similar corridor, with an $8.2 million price tag, is proposed for Sutherland Avenue from Lake Avenue to Burtch Road. It also includes sewer and water upgrades.
And $500,000 is planned for the removal of aging water metres that will be replaced with metres that allow homeowners to monitor their own water usage.
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News from © iNFOnews, 2018