A 7.31 property tax increase has a West 麻豆精选 councillor urging more user pay options for city services.
Council gave second and third readings to the increase at its Feb. 25 meeting. Coun. Garrett Millsap noted that many public responses during budget consultations favoured maintaining or reducing services to limit tax increases.
He asked his colleagues to consider bringing in future revenue through user pay services and running the city like a business.
鈥淲hether it鈥檚 paid parking or boat launch fees, or looking at the fees we鈥檙e charging for people using city facilities,鈥� Millsap said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 nice that we supplement a lot of the time, but the supplement comes with a cost to our taxpayers.鈥�
Coun. Tasha Da Silva countered that the city is not a business, but a service.
鈥淚 look at what do our residents ask for, and what are we delivering in this budget. It was all of the things that are important to them鈥nfrastructure, parks and recreation鈥afety,鈥� she said.
During initial budget discussions in December, the property tax increase came at 8.35 per cent. It dropped to 7.43 in January and finally 7.31 Tuesday night.
Coun. Rick de Jong pointed out nobody is happy with tax increases. 鈥淭he reality is, when you go back and look through the budget, I couldn鈥檛 find another area to cut without sacrificing services,鈥� he said.
There was concern over the possible impacts that U.S. tariffs might have on the budget. Coun. Jason Friesen asked staff about contingency plans for the city鈥檚 larger expenditures if the tariffs are imposed.
鈥淲e鈥檒l do fewer projects, just like we would do anytime if our tenders come in higher,鈥� CAO Ron Bowles replied. 鈥淲e haven鈥檛 looked at any changes, but we will wait and see.鈥�
Last year鈥檚 property tax increase was 6.85 per cent.
