West Kelowna's new city hall is seen in this photo posted to X.com.
Image Credit: X.COM/City of West Kelowna
November 06, 2024 - 7:00 PM
West Kelowna city council is preparing the budget for the upcoming year. Recent expensive projects and expensive projects coming in the future have made the city consider slowing down spending.
The city’s director of finance Warren Everton presented the city’s cash reserve situation to council at its meeting, Nov. 5.
The city added more than $5 million to its main capital reserve in 2024, but it decided to promptly take out more than $4 million this year.
“That’s been typical of the usage over the last few years. We keep bumping up against what we transfer into reserve every year, so we never really start to get ahead. It’s almost like we’re taxing for what we’re adding every year, not building for the future,” Everton said. “There have been years where we spent more than we transferred into reserves.”
Councillor Rick de Jong said it’s time to start saving up for the future, and he referenced recent major projects like the $22.8 million new city hall, and the $14 million new fire hall and community centre in Lakeview Heights.
READ MORE: After numerous delays and $22.8 million West Kelowna’s new city hall is officially open
“Simply put, we do need to slow down. I look at the accomplishments we've done with the resources that staff have had, amazing. Look at the building we're in today,” de Jong said at the meeting. “I'm not against putting extra money into reserves, if we have it, but I certainly am a strong proponent of slowing down, being a little bit more service focused while we do that and completing the projects that we've got going.”
The city is anticipating large expenses coming up in 2025. The city has requested to spend $2.8 million on roads, $2 million on pedestrian infrastructure, and $6.8 million on water utilities.
There's also a planned expense of $5.2 million for land and park acquisition in 2026.
This week’s meeting was a preliminary presentation to council to start preparing the budget so any firm budgeting plan, like whether there will be a tax increase, has yet to be decided.
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