Quesnel City Council has unanimously endorsed an operating budget that would see a 3.4 percent tax increase.
Director of Finance Kari Bolton goes over what this means to the average homeowner…
“This results in an increase of approximately 52 dollars to the average resident, which is slightly less than last year, or 28 dollars per 100 thousand of assessment. The average residence in Quesnel went up 3.8 percent in assessment.”
Bolton says Quesnel’s residential taxes remain in the bottom quarter of the province…
“In 2017 the City’s municipal taxes for an average house in Quesnel ranked 124th out of 162 when compared to the taxes paid by the average house in other communities in British Columbia. Quesnel’s municipal taxes were $853 for the average house compared to an average of $1,449 for the province.”
The increase to commercial businesses will be approximately 88 dollars per 100 thousand dollars of assessment.
This is also the final year that taxation for light and major industry will be frozen at 2015 levels.
Quesnel Mayor Bob Simpson noted that this was the final budget for this Council.
He felt it concluded a “gutsy” four year tax framework that rebalanced taxation to reduce the reliance on major industry and addressed an infrastructure gap for fiscal sustainability.