View Royal council has approved a five-year financial plan that would see 2017 property taxes rise by a modest .47 per cent over the 2016 taxation year, or less than $10 per household for homes with an average increase in assessed value.

Under the plan, the overall increase would jump to 3.76 per cent in year two, with subsequent annual increases of 3.96 in 2019, 2.17 per cent in 2020 and 3.47 per cent in 2021. Council voted 4-1 last week to approve changes to a previous plan that started with a .78-per-cent decrease in 2017 and 1.42 per cent in 2018, but have larger increases in two of the following three years.

A staff report noted that the overall average residential assessment in View Royal has gone up to $576,901 or about 14.7 per cent higher than the 2016 average. Commercial assessments jumped more than 40 per cent to $2.039 million from about $1.45 million, largely due to the completion of the Eagle Creek Village project.

Grants-in-aid boosts help community groups

During deliberation over the five-year financial plan, council also voted to increase funding to the WestShore Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber requested and received a change to its annual grant in aid, which was $1,500 last year, to a $3,000 fee for service, bringing the contribution in line with the funding model used by both Langford and Colwood.

editor@goldstreamgazette.com