City Hall is working toward a 2% tax levy increase for the 2021 budget, down from administration’s original figure of 3.45%.
Councillor Rebecca Johnson pushed the number lower, calling it a goal that the community can manage right now.
However, the tax levy increase doesn’t include around $8-million in pandemic-related costs. City Council voted to separate those from the levy increase, and ask administration how to pay that bill.
Councillor and Budget Chair Mark Bentz backs up that idea, as Council floated the idea of taking the money out of the Stabilisation Reserve Fund.
“That’s a hard concept for a lot of people to wrap their heads around in budgeting, but one-time costs should not be rolled into a budget, they should be dealt with as one-time costs,” Bentz explains.
City Council was warned that a 2% tax levy increase target will likely mean cuts to city services.
