City of Vernon proposes 4.47 per cent tax increase in 2021

Photo: Contributed

Vernon residents may see a bump on their municipal tax bill next year.

Vernon city council received its proposed 2021 budget, Monday, which recommends a 4.47 per cent tax increase.

For the average Vernon household, with a property value of $461,747, this would result in about a $69 increase. The total revenue brought in from the 4.47 per cent bump would be $1.927 million.

The 2021 budget indicates a need for a 1.79 per cent increase in net operating funds and a 1.9 per cent levy for the 2021 infrastructure program – 0.43 per cent is needed to fund already approved requests, and the remaining 0.35 per cent is there for proposed changes that have not yet been approved.

Only two of the tax-funded proposed change requests have been approved thus far – $75,000 has been given to O'Keefe Ranch for a grant extension, and $110,000 will be funnelled into a current planning job position.

Proposed requests that have yet to be approved include an anti-tag team, library Sunday openings, and a weekly cleanup grant, among others.

Vernon is receiving almost $5 million from the provincial government through COVID-19 safe restart grant funds.

"I personally am very happy, that $4.997 million will help us," said Debra Law, the city's director of financial administration. "The idea is, this money has to ride us through the next three to five years, depending on how long this lasts and how it affects our community."

The proposed budget is available for public review on the city's website and council will discuss and deliberate the proposed budget on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1.