Gibsons council continued budget deliberations March 24 at its committee of the whole meeting and voted to hold the 2020 tax increase to four per cent in light of the possible impacts of ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
In a written report, director of finance Lorraine Coughlin said she is now building a $7,500 increase in cleaning-related costs into the budget as well as a “reduced travel costs resulting from the cancellation of larger events.”
On the revenue side, the Town’s 2020 draft budget is now factoring in a possible $75,000 decrease in building permit revenue and a $10,000 decrease in investment income.
The budget already included a base two per cent tax increase and some new spending, including $40,886 to add 1.12 full-time equivalents to the Town staff, but still projected a surplus of $183,943.
Adjustments for the possible impacts of COVID-19 left the surplus sitting at $101,443.
As a result, councillors rejected increases in funding for Music in the Landing and the grant-in-aid program, but approved $8,000 for police-based victim services.
And, instead of funding Gibsons Chamber of Commerce tourism initiatives, the committee recommended setting aside $5,000 for “supporting small business” and economic recovery, that the Chamber could access by coming forward with specific programs.
“There is going to be need for some recovery after all this,” Mayor Bill Beamish said.
The committee also voted to change its earlier recommendation for a two per cent tax increase to build a reserve to meet the additional $700,000 to $1 million the Town will have to pay for RCMP services after the population tops 5,000.
The committee reduced it to one per cent, which is expected to bring in about $32,000.
The remaining $89,000 surplus, as well as another $32,000 that would come in from bumping the tax increase to four per cent overall, will be allocated to capital or other projects to be funded out of taxation.
Those projects include new furniture and a renovation at Town Hall, crosswalks at Kiwanis Way, removal and storage of the Persephone from private property at Five Corners, public works yard improvements, and repairs to the float at Armours Beach.
The Town estimates a four per cent increase would add an additional $41.08 to the Gibsons portion of the tax bill for a home assessed at $657,288 and $193.15 to a typical commercial property’s bill.
