Sechelt’s draft 2017-21 financial plan is now online and council is seeking feedback.
The draft financial plan shows a projected 5.74 per cent tax increase for homeowners in the District of Sechelt in 2017. The five-year financial plan also details tax increases in each of the following years, ranging from 7.57 per cent in 2018 to 4.84 per cent in 2021.
The increases are needed to top up what have been “insufficient budgets” in prior years and to keep up with increasing costs for staffing, water treatment centre operations, gas, water and hydro, according to director of finance Doug Stewart.
The 5.74 per cent tax increase in 2017 will amount to about $72 more for the average home in Sechelt (an average home is defined in the draft budget as being worth $429,737).
In addition to the proposed tax increase, Sechelt residents will pay more for sewer and solid waste fees in 2017.
The draft budget shifts those costs out of the main budget (where everyone subsidizes them) and puts the levies solely on those using the services. It also serves to keep costs in their respective categories, Stewart said.
Under the draft budget, in 2017 sewer users will pay a levy rate increase of $173 and there will also be a solid waste levy rate increase of $10.
In total, an average home in Sechelt on sewer will be charged $255 more for taxes and fees in 2017 if the draft budget is accepted, unchanged, by council.
The draft plan in its entirety can be found online at www.sechelt.ca and feedback can be emailed to [email protected]
Sechelt also plans to host an E-Town Hall meeting on the draft budget sometime in February.
Stewart said the district would be able to take input until April and then council would have to consider adoption of the plan and the setting of a new tax bylaw by May 15.
