The Town of View Royal is moving closer to approving its next budget, and Mayor Sid Tobias says residents can expect to see an increase on their tax bills of around 9.4 per cent based on councilB次元官网网址檚 deliberations up to now.
Tobias told the Goldstream Gazette Wednesday (April 19) that while council was scheduled to vote on whether to approve the budget during TuesdayB次元官网网址檚 (April 18) regular council meeting, the decision was made to defer the vote until the next council meeting as several amendments to the 2023-2027 financial plan are to be made.
B次元官网网址淎ll of that (tax increase) is due to increases in policing costs and costs for staff. All of our operational is pretty much tied up with increased costs of labour,B次元官网网址� said Tobias. B次元官网网址淐ouncil went through the budget line-by-line, painstakingly, with the focus of creating efficiencies wherever we possibly could to minimize increases to taxes.B次元官网网址�
Tobias said that for View Royal, every $100,000 in additional annual operational spending requires around a one-per-cent tax increase in order to avoid cutting services provided by the town or dipping into financial reserves, which was done during the first two years of the pandemic in order to avoid larger tax increases during those difficult times.
Also aiding the town in minimizing the economic impacts of its growth and high inflation rates seen across the country is a $4.66 million Growing Communities Fund grant from the province. At MondayB次元官网网址檚 meeting, council approved the creation of a reserve fund to hold the new grant money, which is only able to be spent on capital infrastructure and amenities.
B次元官网网址淲eB次元官网网址檝e got a longer list of capital projects we would like to achieve enabled by that $4.66 million,B次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址淚 think there are all kinds of things that View Royal needs to do to ensure it is safe and connected, meaning crosswalks, sidewalks and bike lanes to integrate new communities and developments we have, and my personal opinion is that includes being able to establish acoustic fencing for areas that are hard hit by noise from the highway like Thetis Vale.B次元官网网址�
Tobias said the budget bylaw is expected to return before council for consideration at the next regular council meeting, which the townB次元官网网址檚 website indicates is scheduled for May 2.
READ MORE: View Royal approves nearly $60K in community grants-in-aid
justin.samanski-langille@goldstreamgazette.com
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