Squamish council is considering a possible 7.5 per cent increase to property tax revenue this year.
The draft 2015-2019 budget was reviewed Monday and Tuesday in public workshops held at municipal hall.
The key drivers for the projected increase for property tax revenue are hikes to existing labour costs, RCMP contract increases, corrections in fleet allocations and general volume increases to contracts, service materials and utilities, according to Christine Mathews, financial planning manager for the district.
Forty to 50 per cent of the general budget is labour costs, she said.
“Boots on the ground is a big part of our business, so obviously any blips or changes in benefit changes and in labour contract increases is going to have a significant impact on our budget,” Mathews said. “That is just the reality.”
Net labour costs contribute to a 2.8 per cent proposed increase to property taxation, while RCMP costs contribute 1.5 per cent towards the increase. Because of the ballooning of Squamish’s population, the district moved from 70 per cent cost sharing to 90 per cent cost-sharing relationship with the province as of 2013, Mathews explained.
The impact of the increase has been phased in over four years and the amount reduced year over year, thus the RCMP costs will impact the budget more this year than in the past. This year will see an RCMP contract increase worth $128,000.
The 2015 transit contract is also scheduled to increase by $112,617 this year due to increases in labour, fuel and repair costs, according to Mathews.
The property tax revenue increase doesn’t necessarily mean if the budget is adopted that each and every property owner will see a 7.5 per cent increase, according to Mathews, who noted it could be less.
“That is the revenue change in the bigger budget, so it will break down to different property owners differently,” said Mathews. “We do expect some new revenue from new investments and new properties in the area, which will help mitigate them as well.”
Property taxes for 2014 went up by 5.14 per cent.
Mayor Patricia Heintzman said it’s early in the budget process, so the numbers being bandied about are very preliminary.
“We want people to be engaged in the budget process. They seem to only get engaged when there is an increase. And so it is OK we are engaging people with a hypothetical increase, and at this point we have no idea where we will end up,” she said, adding that this week is the first time most of council has even seen the proposed budget. She said she would like to start the budget process much earlier in the year next time around, perhaps in November.
The process has to be complete by May 15, according to provincial legislation, but council’s goal is to have the budget wrapped up well before then. For more information on the public consultation process go to squamish.ca.
To comment on the proposed budget: email: [email protected] or [email protected] or comment via the district Facebook page or on Twitter @Squamishtown.
Utility fees increase
Proposed property tax increases won’t be the only district hit to Squamish residents’ pocket books in 2015.
As most homeowners already know, utility fees are again increasing. This year they will go up by 9.5 per cent. Bylaws for these increases already passed council.
For each single residential owner for 2015 the percentage increase translates to $384 for water, $536 for sewer and garbage fees of between $185 to $289, depending on the size of container chosen, according to the district.
This is the final year of the five-year Public Works Infrastructure Asset Management Plan increases. The utility increase was scheduled to be 10 per cent for 2015, but with the elimination of discounts for early payment of utility fees in 2015, the increase was reduced to 9.5 per cent.
Mathews said though this increase marks the end of five years of planned increases, that doesn’t mean there won’t be increases in future years.
“The water fund is getting hit fairly hard with some capital costs so we do think that over the longer term we will have to continue to raise those rates,” she said.
