Thursday, Dec. 18 and Friday, Dec. 19, 2024
Watch meetings live or via the webcast archive
Council meetings are livestreamed at westkelownacity.ca/webcasts and archived within one business day. To view the Dec. 18 and 19 webcast archive, please visit pub-westkelowna.escribemeetings.com.
Council begins deliberations into safety, service and growth focused Draft 2025 Budget
The Draft 2025 Budget highlights sustainable growth, critical infrastructure improvements, and quality service levels in respect of customers’ requests to ensure the safety and well-being of our residents while supporting our vibrant and growing community. The draft budget also places a strong emphasis on public safety services such as policing, fire protection and bylaw enforcement by adding two RCMP officers, two flex firefighters and a community support officer to assist with increasing unhoused populations. The budget also continues to deliver new active transportation corridors, parks and recreational facilities improvements, and water, sewer and storm sewer equipment and infrastructure upgrades and replacements that help make West Kelowna a great place to live, work, and play.
A summary of Council’s initial Draft 2025 Budget decisions is provided below. To see the full budget and learn more, please visit westkelownacity.ca/budget.
Public input will be sought into Draft 2025 Budget
Council and staff give the annual budget process careful consideration and value community input as the City aims to balance growth and inflation pressures with affordability, while also increasing safety and security and delivering high quality services for our community.
The City will gather budget input from our community during public consultations from Jan. 27 to Feb. 9. To receive more details, including dates for two proposed open houses, please sign up for City news and alerts at westkelownacity.ca/subscribe.
Net budget increase totals 7.43 per cent
The 2025 to 2029 Financial Plan has been given first reading, with a net increase in the Draft 2025 Budget of 7.43 per cent for municipal taxes, or $194 per average residential assessment of $960,000 (please note: amounts per household will vary depending on 2025 assessments; learn how provincial assessments affect your household’s share of the municipal budget through property taxes, at bcassessment.ca). Council will consider the community’s input, prior to second and third readings and adoption in the spring.
The Draft 2025 Budget accounts for the following increased services (please note, dollar figures are rounded; for exact numbers, see the budget at westkelownacity.ca/budget):
- A base budget increase of 3.01 per cent, or $1.36 million, as required to cover contractual agreements, inflation, transit service improvements and provincial housing initiatives.
- A 2.0 per cent increase, or $900,000, with one per cent to cover increased spending on the road rehabilitation program and one per cent to provide additional allocations to infrastructure reserves.
- A 1.91 per cent increase, at $860,000, for 8.2 staff positions, to keep pace with growth and to:
- Improve application times and service for business owners.
- Enhance automation, uses of artificial intelligence and other technological efficiencies.
- Provide seven day per week community support coverage downtown.
- Manage and maintain our operational and community facilities and buildings.
- More strategically manage the fleet, right-size and explore alternative fuel uses.
- Work with Council and the community on service level clarity and better bylaws for our young and rapidly growing city.
- Keep pace with service demands in our many and growing number of parks, trails and public spaces.
- Increase the non-contracted drainage and road maintenance services provided by the City.
- A 2.39 per cent increase for safety and security, at $1.08 million, for:
- Two newly funded RCMP members for a total of 31 funded officers for 2025, and one front counter clerk for the detachment.
- Two additional flex firefighter positions and a 0.6 FTE administrative assistant as a more cost-effective staffing model than paying overtime.
- Increased transit security at the Boucherie and Westbank Transit Exchanges, conduct additional wildfire mitigation in municipal parks, properties and rights of way, and a $2 per hour pay increase for paid on-call firefighters to closer align with rates given in other municipalities, and to provide them with annual cancer screening and stat holiday pay.
- On the Utilities side, which is not funded by property taxes, Council also approved increased services in water distribution and water treatment and supply; the water system, funded by user fees, will cover the additional cost of $350,000.
Staff continues to complete the project close-out report for the new City Hall and informed Council that an update on total, as-built project costs will be presented by the end of January 2025 to ensure accountability and transparency to the public.
$17.56 million allocated for capital projects in 2025
Council deliberated $17.56 million in capital projects proposed for 2025 (please note, dollar figures are rounded, for exact figures, refer to the capital plan, starting on Page 88 at westkelownacity.ca/budget):
- Roads – $3.15 million – $2.5 million for the road rehabilitation program, up from $2.1 million in 2024; converting streetlights to energy efficient LEDs at $350,000; and the Glenrosa Second Access Corridor Study at $300,000.
- Equipment – $1.8 million – $710,000 for required replacement of aged-out existing fleet vehicles and equipment and $990,000 for new equipment and fleet vehicles including ongoing electrification, with four new electric vehicles to be purchased in 2025.
- Development Services – $100,000 – for a Community Safety Plan at $50,000 and bylaw development for new provincially legislated Amenity Cost Charges at $50,000.
- Storm drainage – $1.62 million – McDougall Creek capacity improvements at $525,000; various capital crew projects at $500,000; Menu Road storm water improvements at $350,000 and an update of the Storm Drainage Master Plan at $250,000.
- Pedestrian infrastructure – $1 million – Horizon Drive Active Transportation Corridor (in addition to carry forward funding from 2023).
- Parks – $1.72 million – Anders Tennis Court replacement at $845,000; Ranch Park upgrades at $350,000; Mar Fee Park Plan at $120,000; Memorial Park Plan at $100,000; and various other improvements, including ongoing playground safety repairs, annual bear resistant garbage can installation program, basketball court surfacing, irrigation system replacements and more at $300,000.
- General – $82,000 for an Infrastructure Gaps Study at $50,000 and a Regional Household Travel Survey at $32,000.
- Facilities – $2.5 million – acoustics improvements in Council Chambers at $115,000; parking lot design for City Hall/Library Building at $80,000; $300,000 for Fire Hall #33 (Rose Valley) roof replacement; $400,000 for Fire Hall #34 (Glenrosa) roof replacement; $308,000 for new lockers and furnace replacement at Johnson Bentley Memorial Aquatic Centre; Jim Lind Arena roof replacement at $700,000 and arena condenser replacement for Jim Lind Arena and Royal LePage Place at $600,000.
- Fire Rescue Equipment – $514,000 – replace aged-out protective equipment at $90,000; $110,000 for a personnel transport van for incident and training support; face masks for breathing apparatus for at $34,000; Fire Training Centre Phase 2 improvements at $280,000.
- Information Services – $942,000 – Council Chambers equipment replacement at $277,000; storage and hardware replacements at $282,000; ongoing work to go paperless within municipal operations at $100,000; various geographic information systems and ortho upgrades at $149,000; and $411,000 in other hardware, software, security and systems improvements and replacements.
- Water Utility – $3.8 million – water meter replacements at $1.64 million; Old Okanagan Highway and Butt Road water main replacement at $400,000; design of Rose Valley Dam spillway improvements at $500,000; land acquisition for pressure reducing valve systems in Westbank Centre at $250,000; various other improvements for the Rose Valley and Powers Creek Water Systems including security and replacement of end-of-life systems and equipment at just over $1 million.
- Sewer Utility – $340,000 – Pritchard/Green Bay Lift Station upgrades at $200,000; Horizon Drive watermain replacement at $90,000; sewer modeling update at $50,000.
At the end of 2025, balances would be at just under $20 million in various City reserves and $11 million in development cost charge reserves.
Grants in Aid to be considered in January prior to public engagement
The application period for Grants in Aid for community groups closed at the end of October and Finance Department staff will provide a summary of the organizations that have submitted applications for aid and the purposes for their requests. Council will review and consider the requests during the Jan. 14 Regular Meeting.
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