Following a day-long meeting, Kelowna City Council approved the 2025 preliminary budget.
On Thursday, councillors spent the day reviewing the $839.3 million budget line-by-line and settled on a tax increase of 4.34%.
That is down slightly from the 4.36% increase the budget started with.
Based on the average value of a single-detached home in Kelowna, that works out to a $107.80 increase to property taxes, about $8.98 a month.
“Our commitment to prudent financial management and sustainable growth is at the heart of this budget,” said City Manager Doug Gilchrist.
“Not only is the City in an enviable financial position maintaining a low and competitive tax rate, but we have identified efficiencies totalling $3 million to be redeployed to priority areas, of which $2.4 million directly impacts general taxation.”
Gilchrist said the city is also working to generate the majority of revenues from sources other than property taxes, including reserves and grants.
The gross taxation demand of $204.7 million makes up less than 25% of the city’s 2025 operating and capital costs.
Income is also generated from user fees including those from self-sustaining business units such as the Kelowna International Airport, Parking, the City’s water and wastewater utilities, and solid waste operations.
Gilchrist said with guidance from Council Priorities, the Imagine Kelowna community vision, the citizen survey, the Official Community Plan, the 2030 Infrastructure and 10-Year Capital Plan, the budget prioritizes investments in capital delivery and more than doubles the city’s annual investment rate from previous years to meet Kelowna growth.
The budget has several capital projects.
The City is investing $89.7 million in multi-modal transportation infrastructure projects and operations to keep up with growth and development.
That includes $5 million for enhancing, maintaining, and expanding active transportation networks; $8.2 million for transit; and the balance for multi-modal road improvements and safety.
Other infrastructure investments include recreational facilities in Central Kelowna, Glenmore, Mission and Rutland, which will see capital investments of over $32.2 million this coming year.
With community safety as a top council priority, the budget includes the 1% public safety levy which saw the inclusion of four firefighters, five bylaw officers, eight RCMP officers and three “specialized” positions.
There are also investments in new protective services equipment and funds to cover increased costs for RCMP contracts.
More than $2.5 million has been allocated for wildfire mitigation, water efficiency programs and capital projects that make operations and buildings more efficient.
The city is also investing $4.7 million in digital transformation to improve citizen access to services, upgrades to the 911 system and improve operational efficiency.
To review KelownaNow’s full-day coverage from deliberations, including more breakdowns of budget items, feel free to visit this link.
Next up in the budget process, Kelowna councillors will review carryover times in March.
That will be followed by the final tax demand, which will be decided in April.
If you’d like to explore the 351-page financial plan, head on over to the city’s website.
