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City proposes 2.01 per cent tax adjustment in 2018-2022 Financial Plan

Included in the City of Kimberley’s 2018-2022 Financial Plan is a comprehensive breakdown of general funds, which includes information on property taxes.
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Included in the City of Kimberley’s 2018-2022 Financial Plan is a comprehensive breakdown of general funds, which includes information on property taxes.

Municipalities are required to collect taxes on behalf of other agencies, and in Kimberley that includes general municipal retained by the City, provincial school tax, Regional District of East Kootenay (RDEK), regional hospital, BC Assessment, and the Municipal Finance Authority.

According to the Financial Plan document by Chief Financial Officer Jim Hendricks, property owners paid $3.3 million in taxes to other agencies in 2017.

Hendricks wrote that 99.3 per cent of the City’s assessment is comprised of residential and business taxes. 94.3 per cent residential and five per cent business.

Hendricks says there is little opportunity to share the tax burden with other property classifications such as light industrial.

Across all classes, the proposed 2018 property tax adjustments are 2.01 per cent. This means for an average single family home at an assessed value of $261,919, the variable rate increase is 2.01 per cent ($46.38 annually or $3.86 per month).

In 2016, Council provided direction that the flat tax on improved properties be eliminated over a ten year period by reducing the levy by $80 per year until it’s gone and annually increasing variable rate taxes by an offsetting amount to maintain the same level of taxation revenue.

In 2017 and 2018, Council confirmed by resolution that the direction be maintained.

Since 2016, the flat tax has been reduced from $786 to $546, with am estimated $311,280 moved to variable rate taxes.

Hendricks says that school tax represents a significant cost to the taxpayer at 17.7 per cnet of the overall property tax collection ($2.3 million in 2017).

“The municipality has no control over school tax collections as the Province determines the applicable tax rates,” Hendricks wrote. “School tax rates are set at the same level for all municipalities within a particular school district.”

With the acceptation of a minor administration fee of approximately $5,000, the municipality retains none of the school tax collections for its own use.

Next to school tax, RDEK requisition represents the next largest portion of the overall tax collection. The Regional District determines the amount of the Requisition based on the anticipated costs of the services they provide.

In 2018 the total RDEK requisition to be collected from the City of Kimberley taxpayers and subsequently paid to the RDEK is estimated at $764,733 for nine different services including general administration, E911, solid waste, planning, invasive plant management, libraries, regional parks, Yaqakxaqlamki Park, and central emergency.

Finally, the Aquatic Centre Parcel Tax is included in the Financial Plan to be increased annually to keep up with inflationary expenditure adjustments. In 2018, the parcel tax will increase from $152 to $154.

Future parcel tax projections for the Aquatic Centre will go towards funding the increasing operating deficit and will be reviewed annually. It is anticipated to go up $4 per year, each year, from 2018 to 2022 (from $154 to $168 total).



Corey Bullock

About the Author: Corey Bullock

Corey Bullock is a multimedia journalist and writer who grew up in Burlington, Ontario.
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