FILE PHOTO

(KIM ANDERSON / iNFOnews.ca)

Kamloops city council knows times are tough.

Bracing for a property tax hike of more than 10 per cent, elected officials opted to slash half its own climate action tax after its first year.

It wasn't without opposition, but the proponents for the climate-focused taxation were drowned out by a majority.

"You have to feed your family in addition to giving to your community. We have to be careful that we are not taking dollars we don't need to out of the pockets of our citizens during an enormously economically challenging time," councillor Katie Neustaeter said. "We are looking at a massive tax rate this year. What can we pull back on?"

The City's climate action levy is a 0.35% property tax directed at a litany of different climate-focused projects, like bike lanes or retrofits to city facilities that would reduce emissions.

For a home assessed at around $740,000, that's roughly $8.75 per year.

After a split vote, council opted to cut that amount in half for 2024, meaning taxpayers were spared four dollars for the year.

The taxation requirement for the City is set to go up around 10.8% in 2024 without adding any new projects or services.

Neustaeter was one of a few voices who saw the climate levy as a way to lessen the tax burden on residents, doubting whether Kamloops should be using the fund at all.

Projects like retrofitting civic facilities to reduce emissions should be funded by higher levels of government, so the City shouldn't take on the tax burden, she said. She went on to say BC was one of the most regulated provinces in the country for its climate goals.

"For Kamloops to say now we are going to change the world from a small city in the Interior of BC, I'm not sure that's our highest priority," she said. "(The tax) seems like an overstep of our job."

READ MORE: Kamloops council chooses bike lanes over EVs

Councillors Bill Sarai, Mike O'Reilly, Margot Middleton and Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson voted with her, opting to cut the cost in half for the year. It will then return in 2025 for council to consider whether to bring it back. Councillor Kelly Hall was absent for the Feb. 20 committee of the whole meeting.

The climate tax was only in effect for 2023, bringing in around $1.38 million. Around $630,000 was set aside and $750,000 used for active transportation projects. When approved in 2022 under the previous council, the tax was intended to continue for at least ten years.

Councillors Nancy Bepple, Dale Bass and Stephen Karpuk tried to convince the rest to keep the fund going unchanged.

Karpuk pressed the others not to ditch the fund, concerned the City will only end up "kicking it down the road," making some projects more costly in the future. He compared it to the recent water rate hikes, which, until recently, remained unchanged for more than a decade.

"We have to show we care," Bass said, giving an impassioned plea to carry on with the climate tax.

She said six years ago, she tried to convince other councillors that the City should have its own single-use plastic ban. They "mocked" and she lost out to those who said the City should wait until higher levels of government follow through with such policies.

"I'm not prepared to sit around and wait for governments to decide what the want to do to help up because climate change matters right now," she said. "We still have to show it's important. It's as important to us this year as it was last year... We are doing the things that we can do for our community, for our grandkids and for our own pride in our community."

Although the majority opted to cut the tax in half this year, it still needs to be affirmed by council again at another meeting before it comes into effect.

This issue, according to O'Reilly, is about optics and percentages.

READ MORE: 'Irresponsible breeder': Charges being considered after abused dogs rescued in Clearwater

"Dollars and cents won't be the headline," he said. "It's always a percentage and that's what our residents are hearing."

It's the 0.175% tax savings homeowners will get that will be reflected to the public through the media, while council remains "prudent" at taking care of City assets, he said.

Meanwhile, local climate advocates voiced their dismay at the option to cut the fund ahead of the Feb. 20 meeting.

“This region's vulnerability to climate-related harm (fire, flood, and freeze-thaw cycles) to infrastructure and tourism assets (let alone the human cost, given the number of people experiencing homelessness) should make it clear that this is not the time to be backing off on investing in climate action,” Dr. Nancy Flood of the Kamloops Naturalist Club said in a news release.

Multiple organizations including the Kamloops Cycling Coalition, Kamloops Moms for Clean Air and Physicians for a Health Environment signed an open letter on Feb. 19 calling on the City to stay the course, rather than cutting the climate tax.

"The City’s consultations show time and again that residents want climate action to be a top priority. We call on Council to reaffirm the City’s commitment to timely climate action by sticking to the plan on the Climate Action Levy," the letter reads in part.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Levi Landry or call 250-819-3723 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.

We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above. SUBSCRIBE to our awesome newsletter here.

News from © iNFOnews, 2024