Lower tax increase and waived interest for utility bills lessens financial burden during COVID-19

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 07, 2020

West Kelowna Council has reduced the proposed tax increase from 4.8 per cent to 2.8 per cent in order to provide relief to residents and businesses facing financial hardships due to COVID-19. The lower rate was included in an amendment to the City’s 2020 – 2024 Financial Plan, which Council adopted at the April 7 meeting.

“Cutting the tax increase is the right thing to do and we must continue to look for ways to support our residents and businesses who need the help during this difficult time,” said Mayor Gord Milsom. “This is not an easy decision as it may impact some of the services we provide or lead to setbacks on some of our projects. However, we need to help our community where we can during COVID-19. We are also requesting that the Province of BC expand their Property Tax Deferment Program and extend the tax penalty due date.”

Staff will look at ways to achieve the lower property tax rate as directed by Council, which is anticipated to include some staffing and service-level reductions.

The lower tax rate was one of several items on this week’s agenda where Council directed staff to help lessen the financial hardship and uncertainty created by COVID-19. As part of adoption of the Fees and Charges Amendment Bylaw, Council also approved eliminating the one per cent interest charged on outstanding utility bill balances through to the end of 2020.

“We hope these measures provide relief and flexibility for those that are under financial hardship and need the assistance,” says Paul Gipps, Chief Administrative Officer. “Council’s direction is to help ease the financial burden of COVID-19, and staff will bring back solutions to meet that objective. Our Financial Services staff have done exceptional work to keep our financial continuity intact, and we will continue to evaluate further options that do not put the City at financial risk.”

“This is an unprecedented time for us and we are balancing the need to alleviate the fee and tax burden in our community while preserving the city’s treasury function” says Warren Everton, Chief Financial Officer. “We are encouraging those in our community who are able to pay their fees and taxes on-time to kindly proceed as best as they can. This will help keep our receivables in a more steady state as we strive to meet our capital and operating budget needs.” 

In continuing with Council’s top priority to provide clean, safe and reliable drinking water, particularly for the future Rose Valley Water Treatment Plant users, Council also adopted the Water Rates Bylaw. Council adopted this annual bylaw to protect the pre-planned financial contributions necessary to maintain existing and provide new water infrastructure in the City of West Kelowna.

As with other municipal governments across BC, the City adopted a Revenue Anticipation Borrowing Bylaw that provides the ability for the City to temporarily borrow up to $6 million to cover capital and operating costs in the event of tax revenue delays resulting from COVID-19. West Kelowna is a very young municipality and, unlike many other BC local governments, does not have the depth of reserves needed to front financial hardship measures during such unprecedented times such as a global pandemic.

“These combined financial measures provide a good balance of increased flexibility and temporary financial relief measures for our community while we continue to keep our operations running as normal as possible during COVID-19,” says Mayor Milsom.

For more information, please visit our COVID-19 webpage at www.westkelownacity.ca/covid-19.