It’s almost official.
Quesnel residents will be hit with a 5.2 percent tax increase once City Council gives the final reading to its 5-year financial plan and tax rates bylaw.
The first three readings were provided at Tuesday (April 25) night’s meeting.
Director of Finance Kari Bolton went over the details.
“The average resident in Quesnel, with a house value of $349, 145 will see an increase of $62.40 in the municipal tax portion of their property tax invoice or $17.87 per 100 thousand of assessment. A commercial business will see an increase of $83.13 per 100 thousand of assessment.”
Bolton says no funds were required for the snow reserve this year as it is above the required 30 percent of its annual budget.
She also noted that municipal taxes make up about 45 percent of the total property tax invoice.
“The rest is the school tax, North Cariboo recreation, the Regional Hospital District and other taxes.”
Bolton noted that it also included a financial commitment with the funding that Council recently received from the province.
“This bylaw includes the recommendation from FSAC (Financial Sustainability & Audit Committee) that the fire truck is now funded by the Growing Communities Reserve, the 800 thousand, and the Fire Equipment Reserve, 400 thousand.”
The 800 thousand will come out of the just over 3.2 million dollars that the City received from the province’s Growing Communities Fund.
The rest of the money has been put into a statutory reserve.