Sechelt council is getting closer to nailing down the 2017 budget and with it, property tax and levy increases for residents.
On April 12, councillors looked at some final figures from staff that showed new development growth in Sechelt wasn’t as high as estimated, leaving the district short about $582,000, which will have to be funded through property taxes this year.
Some of that shortfall can be found in upping the property tax rate for utilities, director of finance Doug Stewart said, leaving about $503,000 more to come from all other property taxes.
Council started their deliberations months ago with a three per cent tax increase already built into the budget to deal with capital infrastructure needs. Through topping up what had been “insufficient budgets” in past years, council was looking at a 5.7 per cent tax increase back in January, which would have equated to about $72 more for the average home in Sechelt worth about $430,000.
With the newfound funding shortfall, now an overall increase of 6.95 per cent ($79.15 more for a home worth about $430,000) is required to balance the budget, Stewart said.
Along with that, residents of Sechelt are looking at an increase of $11 for solid waste services in Sechelt and a new sewer parcel tax that’s still being hammered out.
Currently the sewer tax sits at $159 more per parcel in 2017, but Coun. Darnelda Siegers asked for more information on the parcel tax in order to make sure it’s equitable for all residents of Sechelt.
She noted that the hospital, for example, doesn’t pay a parcel tax, but is one of the biggest users of sewer services in Sechelt. “I would still like to see, as I indicated, a breakdown of the sewer user fees and parcel taxes by property type, so that that’s clear to all of us and to the public,” Siegers said.
Staff will bring back the information to a future finance committee meeting for more discussion.
Council will have to consider adopting the budget and the setting of a new tax rate bylaw by May 15.
