City of Vernon budget increase for 2023 less than originally expected

Photo: File photo

Some good news for Vernon taxpayers.

The city's 2023 tax increase is going to be slightly less than originally expected – plus the city will be able to put money into its fire apparatus reserve.

Council endorsed the 2023-27 financial plan on Dec. 5 with a budget increase of 4.79%.

It included information from BC Assessment that non-market changes in assessments for Vernon would total approximately $300,000 for 2023.

However, they will now be approximately $750,000 – an increase of $450,000.

“This is excellent news for Vernon,” says Mayor Victor Cumming.

“When council originally debated this year’s budget, we made the difficult decision to continue to defer putting $350,000 annually into a fire apparatus reserve. Now that we have this new information, council has been able to approve the funding request for the fire apparatus reserve, which will help Vernon Fire Rescue Services plan and prepare for the replacement of fire apparatus when needed in the future.”

The remaining $100,000 has been added into budget calculations, which means the overall budget change for this year has been reduced from 4.79% to 4.57%. This includes:

• A 2.67% increase for annual operating expenses and improvements to public services.
• A 1.90% increase for the final instalment of the city's 10-year infrastructure levy program.

The 2023-27 financial plan is expected to be adopted by council at its next regular meeting on Feb. 13.

Tax rate options are expected to be considered by council in April, and property tax notices will be mailed to property owners in May 2023.

For more information on the city’s five-year financial plan, click here.