Kelowna City Hall
(ROB MUNRO / iNFOnews.ca)
April 29, 2019 - 5:10 PM
KELOWNA - The average Kelowna taxpayer will have to fork out $81.49 more in property taxes over what they paid in 2018.
City council set the final tax rate today, April 29, at 4.1 per cent, after making adjustments for new construction and a few new items.
The rate is actually down slightly from the 4.4 per cent provisional rate set in December, but that only amounts to about $6.50 less for the average taxpayer with a home worth $684,450.
Each year the city has to wait until property values from new construction are factored in before setting its final budget.
This year, there was $3.6 million in revenue from new construction but the city had expected an increase of only $2.5 million.
That allowed the city to cut the tax rate slightly while adding a couple of new items, such as an extra police officer and work on the Cook Road boat launch.
The tax rate also includes a new Infrastructure Tax to help fund a $477 million deficit in what’s needed to upgrade and expand things like roads and parks. Initially, council set that at 1.95 per cent but, with the extra money from new construction, boosted it to 2.27 per cent.
The city plans to collect a total of $142.5 million in taxes, about 25 per cent of its total revenue.
To contact a reporter for this story, email Rob Munro or call 250-808-0143 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.
News from © iNFOnews, 2019