The City of Castlegar held a public input session Wednesday evening as part of the 2018 budget process.
Senior city staff, Mayor Chernoff and city councillors were on hand to discuss the draft budget and Five Year Financial Plan for 2018-2022. About 25 residents showed up for the meeting.
The meeting started out with a chance for the public to look at presentation posters featuring budget highlights, explanations of revenue streams and breakdowns of major budget categories.
Castlegar’s director of finance Andre Buss gave a public presentation twice during the evening.
The city is proposing a 3.5 per cent tax increase on residential properties. The increase is approximately $39 per year or $3.25 per month for the average house.
A one per cent increase is proposed for commercial assessments including light industry and not-for-profit categories.
Less than half of the money collected for property taxes is retained by the city on the property tax assessment. The remaining 55 per cent is collected on behalf of other levels of government such as the regional district ($380) and the province for things like education ($696) and hospital or other services ($91).
For the average home, Castlegar municipal taxes for 2018 will be $1,127 (including the parcel tax). The addition of the regional and provincial taxes will bring total property taxes to $2,295 — but that is before the B.C. Home Owner Grant for primary residences is taken into account. This year’s grant is $770 or $1,045 for seniors bringing the average bill for homeowners down to $1,525 or $1,250 for seniors.
Infrastructure highlights
This year is slated to be a “landmark infrastructure year” with a number of large projects coming to fruition.
$1.93 million will be spent to develop the airport intersection and access road.
$4.87 million will be spent to redevelop a portion of Columbia Avenue North and replace underground infrastructure.
$6.3 million is slated to redevelop Columbia Avenue South in 2019.
$442,000 will be spent on the 5th Avenue stormwater project.
More than $1.1 million in water fund projects are planned including $75,000 in upgrades to the SCADA system, $30,000 for a two-year project for twinning the Blueberry Reservoir Feedline and $110,000 for improvements to the Fireside PRV Station.
More than $1 million in sewer fund projects are planned including $20,000 in upgrades to the SCADA system, $84,400 to continue with the placement of inspection chambers and $95,000 for a backup generator at the 4th Street Lift Station.
Other budgeted projects include $260,000 for city-wide wayfinding signs, $50,000 for Millennium Walkway improvements, $30,000 for aerial photography and $228,000 for a new street sweeper.
Where do your tax dollars go?
If you break down the average municipal bill approximately:
$193 police protection
$155 general government
$155 transportation services
$150 stormwater system
$93 parks and playgrounds
$92 fire protection and municipal emergency program
$80 development services and economic development program
$77 cultural services
$55 winter road maintenance
The rest goes towards public health, cemetery operations, fire services and the municipal emergency program.
Some big-ticket items in the annual budget are:
RCMP expenses $2.05 million
Fire services $795,850
Library $323,900
Garbage/recycling/waste $519,700
Winter road maintenance $513,400
Questions or comments about the draft budget can be sent to budget@castlegar.ca.