Preliminary 2.92 percent tax increase approved by Kimberley council

Kimberley residents could be seeing a 2.92 percent tax increase as part of the city’s budget.

Kimberley council approved a total preliminary 2023 property tax collection increase of 2.92 percent at a special budget meeting Monday night.

Chief Financial Officer Jim Hendricks compared the rate to increases proposed in other communities across BC.

“The list arranges here anywhere from Salmon Arm is 3.83 percent and Terrace is up at 10.33 percent,” Hendricks says. “Everybody is having a really hard time dealing with the inflationary factors and everything else.”

Locally, Cranbrook recently proposed a 5.87 percent tax increase, due to pressures from inflation.

The proposed increase was praised by city councilors, with Councillor Jason McBain saying he was blown away by the early numbers.

“Its really good news when you think about it. We should be pretty happy right now, at least where we’re at,” McBain says. “I know we’re not at the finish line yet, but this is really, really good, so well done to everybody.”

Mayor Don McCormick says the low tax increase is not a result of cutting programs or investments.

“You can always get down to the two percent or a three percent or a four percent increase if you want to defer investments that need to be made or if you want to make cuts to services or things like that,” McCormick says. “If you do that, you pay the price eventually.”

Final approval of the budget isn’t achieved until Kimberley adopts its five year financial plan bylaw.

The deadline for that bylaw to be adopted is May 15th