City Hall’s offer to help taxpayers: $44
Kelowna slashes tax rate in half amid COVID-19 pandemic
The City of Kelowna is offering property owners a $44 break on their municipal taxes this year.
Council is expected Monday to endorse staff plans to reduce the municipal tax hike to 2% from 4.1%.
This means the owner of a typical Kelowna home will be expected to pay $2,115 in municipal taxes, in addition to school, hospital, and regional district taxes, instead of $2,159.
City officials say the $44 reduction offers financial relief to residents who may be struggling with economic fallout caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Difficult decisions are being thoughtfully and methodically made to ensure we can weather this crisis as we simultaneously plan for economic recovery,” city finance director Genelle Davidson says in a press release.
To get the tax hike lowered from what it had been projected to be, city officials say some spending initiatives have been cancelled or delayed, and hiring for job vacancies have been cancelled or deferred
Although Mayor Colin
Basran has said it was possible some full-time city staff might be laid off to achieve a reduction in municipal expenses, the documents going to council Monday do not indicate any such layoffs.
None of the city’s
963 full-time employees will be laid off, according to information going to council at Monday’s meeting. About 100 part-time city staff, as well as summer students, and term employees were laid off in March. Such “compensation adjustments,” as they are described in the report to council, will reduce the tax demand by $1.4 million.
The city plans to collect almost $148 million in taxes from Kelowna property owners this year.
The city plans to increase municipal taxes 18 per cent between 2021 and 2024, the documents for Monday’s meeting indicate.